Palo Alto Weekly 07.13.2012 - Section 1

Section 1 of the July 13, 2012 edition of the Palo Alto Weekly

PaloAltoOnline.com
6Â&#x153;Â?Â°Ă&#x160;888]Ă&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â&#x201C;LiĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;{ÂŁĂ&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C; N xĂ¤Z
New hurdles for
high-speed rail
Page 3
Employee pensions
are helping fuel
fiscal crisis
page 12
Pulse 20
Transitions 21
Spectrum 22
Eating Out 27
Movies 29
Puzzles 65
N Arts Botanical artist in Gambleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;paint-outâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and exhibit Page 24
N Sports Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jeremy Lin to remain with Knicks
Page 31
N Home Community Center: where the action is
Page 37
City of Palo Alto Presents the 28th annual
5K walk, 5K & 10K run â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Great for kids and families
A benefit event for local non-profits supporting kids and families
Register online: PaloAltoOnline.com/moonlight_run
TIME & PLACE
5K walk 7:00pm, 10K run 8:15pm, 5K run 8:45pm.
Race-night registration 6 to 8pm at City of Palo Alto Baylands Athletic Center, Embarcadero & Geng Roads
(just east of the Embarcadero Exit off Highway 101). Parking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; go to PaloAltoOnline.com to check for specific
parking locations.
Corporate Sponsors
COURSE
5K and 10K loop courses over Palo Alto Baylands levee, through the marshlands by the light of the Harvest
Moon! Course is flat, USAT&F certified (10k run only) on levee and paved roads. Water at all stops. Course map
available at www.PaloAltoOnline.com.
REGISTRATIONS & ENTRY FEE
In-Kind Sponsors
Adult Registration (13 +) registration fee is $30 per entrant by 9/14/12. Includes a long-sleeved t-shirt. Youth
Registration (6 - 12) registration is $20 per entrant by 9/14/12. Includes a long-sleeved t-shirt. Youth (5 and
under) run free with an adult, but must be registered through Evenbrite with signed parental guardian waiver, or
may bring/fill out a signed waiver to race-night registration. Late Registration fee is $35 for adults, $25 for youth
from 9/15 - 9/26. Race night registration fee is $40 for adult; $30 for youth from 6 to 8pm. T-shirts available
only while supplies last. Refunds will not be issued for no-show registrations and t-shirts will not be held.
MINORS: If not pre-registered, minors under 18 MUST bring signed parental/waiver form on race night.
SPORTS TEAM/CLUBS:
Online pre-registration opportunity for organizations of 10 or more runners; e-mail MoonlightRun@paweekly.com.
DIVISIONS
Age divisions: 9 & under; 10 - 12; 13 - 15; 16 - 19; 20 - 24; 25 - 29; 30 - 34; 35 - 39; 40 - 44; 45 - 49; 50 - 54;
55 - 59; 60 - 64; 65 - 69; 70 & over with separate divisions for male and female runners in each age group.
Race timing provided for 5K and 10K runs only.
COMPUTERIZED RESULTS BY A Change of Pace
Chip timing results will be posted on PaloAltoOnline.com by 11pm race night. Race organizers are not
responsible for incorrect results caused by incomplete/incorrect registration forms.
AWARDS/PRIZES/ENTERTAINMENT
Top three finishers in each division. Prize giveaways and refreshments. Pre-race warmups
by Noxcuses Fitness, Palo Alto
PALO ALTO GRAND PRIX
Road Race Series â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Moonlight Run, 9/28; Marsh Madness, 10/27; Home Run, 9/11,
for more information go to www.paloaltogp.org.
BENEFICIARY
Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund. A holiday-giving fund to benefit Palo Alto area non-profits and charitable
organizations. In April 2012, 55 organizations received a total of $353,000 (from the 2011-2012
Holiday Fund.)
MORE INFORMATION
Call (650) 463-4920, (650) 326-8210, email MoonlightRun@paweekly.com
or go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com.
For safety reasons, no dogs allowed on course for the 5K and 10K runs. They are
welcome on the 5K walk only. No retractable leashes. Bring your own clean-up bag.
Jogging strollers welcome in the 5K walk or at the back of either run.
Friday
Sept. 28 7pm
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Community Sponsors
Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
High-speed-rail critics prepare for next chapter
Even with initial funding secured, Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s embattled
project faces major hurdles
by Gennady Sheyner
aliforniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contentious drive
to build a high-speed-rail
system between San Francisco and Los Angeles sped ahead
last week, when state lawmakers
approved funding for the first construction phase. But the $68 billion
project still has to pass through a
C
gauntlet of legal, financial and political obstacles before it becomes
reality.
The most immediate threat comes
from litigation, of which there has
been no shortage. Palo Alto, Menlo
Park and Atherton remain involved
in a lawsuit against the California
High-Speed Rail Authority, the
agency charged with building the
system. The lawsuit, which claims
that the authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental
analysis relies on erroneous ridership projections, will be the subject
of a settlement conference in Sacramento Monday morning, July 16,
said Palo Alto City Councilman
Larry Klein, who chairs the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Rail Committee.
Even if the rail authority settles
the Peninsula lawsuit, it will still
face fierce opposition from Central
Valley, where construction is set
to begin. A coalition of agencies,
including the Madera County and
Merced County farm bureaus and
the Chowchilla Water District, filed
a lawsuit last month, arguing that
the rail authority â&#x20AC;&#x153;due to a myriad
of analytical deficiencies, failed to
disclose and analyze the full scope
and severity of impacts.â&#x20AC;?
The litigation could continue as
the rail authority unveils its â&#x20AC;&#x153;project-
levelâ&#x20AC;? Environmental Impact Reports, which pertain to specific segments of the San Francisco-to-Los
Angeles line and have a higher level
of engineering and design specificity. Klein said the city will consider
in the coming months whether it
should file or join any other lawsuits
against the rail authority.
Then there are the political hurdles, including bids to have Califor(continued on page 9)
LAND USE
Future Palo Alto housing:
taller, smaller
City signs off on Housing Element that stresses
proximity to transit hubs
by Gennady Sheyner
I
Veronica Weber
Welcome, big guy
Edward, a 12-year-old Sulcata Tortoise, is the newest acquisition of the Palo Alto Junior Museum &
Zoo. Weighing in at 136 pounds and the size of an end table, he may not have reached his full size yet.
The species is native to North Africa, and the oldest recorded in captivity is 54 years old, according to
Wikipedia. Lifespan is estimated at 50 to 150 years.
NONPROFITS
InnVision merges with Shelter Network
New agency expects to serve 20,000 homeless people from San Jose to Daly City
by Sue Dremann
I
nnVision, Santa Clara Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
largest nonprofit organization serving the homeless, has
merged with Shelter Network of
San Mateo, the two agencies announced Tuesday, July 10.
The new agency, called InnVision Shelter Network, will become
one of the largest providers of transitional shelter and housing in the
state. With a $16 million budget, it
expects to serve more than 20,000
homeless families and individuals
in at least 20 major sites throughout
Silicon Valley and the Midpeninsula, organization officials said.
The merger is the latest in a trend
of nonprofit organizations forging
new partnerships and collaborations in order to survive. Donations
plummeted after the 2008 economic
crisis, and many organizations have
not been able to recover, the heads
of foundations and nonprofit groups
have said.
InnVision, which formed in 1974,
had a roughly $7 million budget last
year and sheltered 4,000 to 6,000
people, according to the agency.
Among its programs, the organization runs the Opportunity Center
in Palo Alto. It also served thousands more at-risk and low-income
through food, counseling and other
programs at two dozen sites, agency
officials said.
Shelter Network last year served
4,600 clients in San Mateo County
through six facilities with an $8
million budget. Founded in 1987,
the majority of its clients are families and veterans.
Shelter Network CEO Karae Lisle
will run the merged agency. InnVision CEO Christine Burroughs has
retired after 24 years but remains a
consultant for the new organization.
Burroughs said she approached
Shelter Network last fall about a
merger.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a combination of factors. I
decided it was time to step down. I
(continued on page 10)
n a radical departure from recent
trends, Palo Alto officials endorsed a new vision for housing
on Monday, July 9, that prizes taller
buildings with smaller units.
The vision is encoded in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Housing Element, a state-mandated,
broad document that lays out the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy for responding to
regional housing mandates. Palo
Alto is required by state law to plan
for â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though not actually build â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
2,860 housing units during the planning period of 2007-14.
The City Council has consistently argued that the mandate is
grossly unrealistic and impossible
to attain in a built-out city with
astronomical real-estate prices.
But to comply with state law, the
council agreed to forward the new
Housing Element to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for review.
Perhaps the most remarkable
aspect of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new housing
strategy is its break from the past.
The council had previously encouraged the development of housing
by allowing dense residential complexes to be built on commercially
zoned sites. Over the past decade,
this policy has spurred a boon in
residential complexes in south Palo
Alto, with major housing projects
such as Vantage, Altaire and Echelon recently going up in the area
of East Meadow Circle. The trend,
however, has left city planners and
council members concerned about
the lack of amenities and transportation options to support the explosion in residential units.
The new Housing Element, by
contrast, eschews major zoning
changes and targets areas around
major transportation hubs for
growth. The vision calls for protecting single-family residential neigh-
borhoods from additional housing
and instead targeting growth at
dense sites such as downtown, El
Camino Real and California Avenue that are well-connected to
transportation. In some cases, this
could mean breaking the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
longstanding 50-foot height limit
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a policy that would be explored
at select sites near Caltrain stations
under the new strategy.
The strategy also calls for smaller
units, which are both more affordable and whose residents would require fewer city services, such as use
of â&#x20AC;&#x153;roads, water, sewer and schools,â&#x20AC;?
according to a report from city planner Tim Wong. In particular, the
housing could serve the needs of the
growing elderly population.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;As Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior population
continues to increase, the need for
smaller senior units is important
as many senior households have
become â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;empty nestersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and would
prefer to downsize,â&#x20AC;? Wong wrote.
The vision statement in the Housing Element also alludes to the recent trends and the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emphasis on protecting neighborhoods
and ensuring new developments are
supported by nearby stores, buses
and trains. The vision reads: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our
housing and neighborhoods shall
enhance the livable human environment for all residents, be accessible
to civic and community services and
sustain our natural resources.â&#x20AC;?
The new Housing Element identifies 2,976 units. Of these, 1,192 have
already been either constructed since
January 2007 or are in process. The
remaining 1,784 are potential housing units that are scattered around
major transit hubs, including the
Caltrain stations near University
and California avenues.
(continued on page 7)
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Upfront
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a General Municipal
Election will be held in the City of Palo Alto on Tuesday,
November 6, 2012 for the following ofďŹ cers:
FOUR FULL TERMS (4 years)
January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2016
Terms of Council Members
Burt, Espinosa, Schmid, Yeh
(Terms Expire December 31, 2012)
The polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, November 6, 2012.
DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC
City Clerk
Music@Menlo
t e n t h
a n n i v e r s a r y
9Vk^Y;^cX`ZaLj=Vc!6gi^hi^X9^gZXidgh
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Jocelyn Dong, Editor
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Sue Dremann, Chris Kenrick, Gennady
Sheyner, Staff Writers
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ADMINISTRATION
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Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Miss the Tenth-Anniversary Season
?jan'%Âˇ6j\jhi&&!'%&'$6i]ZgidcÂ&#x2122;BZcadEVg`Â&#x2122;EVad6aid
Now celebrating its tenth season, Music@Menloâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Bay Areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
premier chamber music festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;offers an incomparable musical
experience including world-class concerts and numerous free
opportunities to explore classical music. The 2012 festival,
Resonance, examines musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact on humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;its ability to
nurture mind and spirit, to transport listeners to new places, and,
ultimately, to delight us all.
Â&#x2122; :mXZei^dcVa8dcXZgih
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8]VbWZgBjh^X^Vch
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IVaZciZYNdjc\6gi^hih
[gdbBjh^X5BZcadÂźh
>chi^ijiZ
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City/Zip: _______________________________
Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly,
P.O. Box 1610. Palo Alto CA 94302
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF ELECTION
There is no impact.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Jaime Rodriguez, Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief transportation official, citing an analysis of changing California
Avenue from four lanes to two. See story on page 7.
Around Town
THE DEPARTURE ... After four years
on the City Council, Sid Espinosa
is preparing for the next chapter
in his life. Espinosa, who in 2011
became the fourth youngest mayor
in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history (he dropped to
fifth after his friend, Yiaway Yeh,
ascended to the mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chair this
year), announced Thursday that he
will not be seeking a second term.
Espinosa, a Microsoft executive who
directs the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philanthropic
efforts in Silicon Valley, said he is
weighing various opportunities in the
private and public sectors and plans
to spend some time between now
and the end of the year figuring out
which of these to pursue. He called
his time on the council â&#x20AC;&#x153;an incredible experience.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I definitely intend
to remain actively engaged in Palo
Alto and in the Palo Alto community,â&#x20AC;?
Espinosa told the Weekly. Espinosaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
departure further opens up what
promises to be a busy race for the
four council seats that will be up for
grabs in November. Yeh, and Councilmen Pat Burt and Greg Schmid,
were all elected in 2007 and are up
for reelection this year. Schmid is the
only member of this quartet to publicly announce his decision to seek
another term. Former mayor and current Santa Clara County Supervisor
Liz Kniss and attorney Marc Berman
are also seeking seats on the ninemember council.
SMOKY SUBJECT ... Palo Alto often
touts itself as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;greenâ&#x20AC;? giant, but the
topic of marijuana has traditionally
been a buzz kill for city leaders. In
1996, the City Council decided that
pot dispensaries have no business
being in the city and adopted an ordinance prohibiting these establishments. But this week, a reluctant City
Council will once again be sucked
into the murky national debate over
pot laws. The council is scheduled
on Monday to place on the ballot a
measure that members have little
appetite for â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one that would allow
up to three medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in Palo Alto. The
council has little say in the matter. A
citizen initiative last year succeeded
in drawing enough signatures for the
November ballot measure. But even
if it passes, the initiative could find
itself in legal limbo because of the
inconsistencies between state law,
which allows pot dispensaries, and
federal law, which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. According to a new memo from the office
of City Attorney Molly Stump, there
are four pot-related cases pending
with the California Supreme Court.
This puts a cloud over Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
pot initiative. Stump notes that even
if the measure is adopted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it is possible that it would be vulnerable to
judicial challenge.â&#x20AC;? At the same time,
the memo notes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;if the Initiative
Measure is not adopted, the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
existing ban may also be vulnerable
to challenge.â&#x20AC;? To deal with this dilemma, Stump proposed another option:
preparing a companion measure for
the voters that would keep the pot
initiative from taking effect â&#x20AC;&#x153;until there
is a definitive judicial decision removing any question that local jurisdictions may lawfully regulate medical
marijuana dispensaries in the manner
that the Initiative Ordinance regulates
...â&#x20AC;? It might, however, take a while to
get these issues resolved. According to Stumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memo, briefing is
currently under way in the cases accepted by the state Supreme Court.
Because federal laws are involved,
itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible that some of the issues
may ultimately be resolved by the
U.S. Supreme Court.
WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN THE WATER? ... When
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s utility officials were testing
customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; water quality in May they
uncovered something strange â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an
unusually high amount of coliform
bacteria â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a bacteria that is generally considered to be nonthreatening
but that can indicate the presence
of other unsavory organisms. The
city responded by notifying its water
supplier, the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, and asking
the agency to clean the grates at
its connection to Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water
system. It also sent out notices to
all water customers, advising them
of this unwelcome finding and began follow-up testing to determine
whether harmful bacteria, such as
E. coli, is present in the water. There
wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t and after nearly three weeks
of testing, the Utilities Department
determined that the water is clean
and safe. In its notice to customers,
the department states that â&#x20AC;&#x153;bacteria
are no longer present and this is not
an emergency.â&#x20AC;? City Manager James
Keene re-emphasized at Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
City Council meeting that â&#x20AC;&#x153;there was
never any emergency.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;However,
because this temporary water-quality
change was a violation of state drinking-water standards, we are required
by law to notify everyone about what
happened and what the city has
done to rectify the situation.â&#x20AC;? N
Upfront
EDUCATION
A long view on learning disabilities
fter nearly a half-century of
working with learning disabilities, Pat Morrissey and
Carolyn Compton have witnessed
every trend â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as well as the birth
of an industry.
Special education didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have
a name when Morrissey was hired
by the Palo Alto Unified School District in 1964 to teach in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;reading
programâ&#x20AC;? for struggling students.
Fast forward to today: Bright kids
who once would have fallen through
the cracks because they â&#x20AC;&#x153;couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
readâ&#x20AC;? can get diagnosed and taught
compensatory techniques â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including use of technology tools â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to help them get through college
and beyond.
Take a client, seen by Morrissey
and Compton since he was 8, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
now a 37-year-old corporate manager
with degrees from the University of
California at Berkeley and the University of Southern California. He
still uses technology tools to mitigate
A
by Chris Kenrick
his trouble with reading and writing.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He spends maybe three hours
more than the average person to get
something out, but when he gets it
out itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first-class,â&#x20AC;? Compton said.
After teaching elsewhere, Morrissey and Compton teamed up in the
early 1980s to launch their own nonprofit tutoring program and summer
school, which has grown to a staff of
six psychologists and other specialists offering diagnostic evaluations
for children and adults. They also
offer parent education and schoolrelated psychotherapy for students
suffering from anxiety, depression
and school phobias.
The summer program, Challenge
School â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for K-6 students who
have academic trouble in the regular classroom â&#x20AC;&#x201D; this month marks
its 30th year in session.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We try to mix the work and the
fun so some kids really think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a
summer camp,â&#x20AC;? Compton said.
In their decades in business, the
Veronica Weber
Gayl Giannik, a teacher with the Morrissey-Compton Educational
Center, explains to incoming first-grader Daniel Houston how to add
and subtract numbers using the Touch Math method.
educational psychologists have seen
a surge in the use of â&#x20AC;&#x153;study drugsâ&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as well as a significant group of
parents who steadfastly reject the
idea of medicating their kids.
Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen a growth in use of
â&#x20AC;&#x153;accommodationsâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; extended
test-taking times and the like â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to
help students with learning disabilities meet academic challenges.
Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve observed the stubborn
persistence of learning disabilities
in students â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if compensation techniques are removed, the child who
couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spell as a third-grader still
cannot spell as an adult.
Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen a shift in a once
common belief that learning disabilities were mostly a problem for
boys to an understanding that they
affect both sexes.
But most of all, the two said in a
recent interview, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen improved diagnosis and awareness of
learning differences â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and a conviction that techniques can be taught
that can help a student work around
their disabilities.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We see students over their educational lifespan, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned so
much from them,â&#x20AC;? Compton said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We can convey to anxious parents who come in with their 8-yearold and ask, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Will he ever read, will
he ever write, what are we going to
do?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; that, yes, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be fine.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;To me, that is thrilling.â&#x20AC;?
Compton once wrote a book
called, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Guide to 100 Tests for Special Education,â&#x20AC;? acquainting readers with the huge range of available
diagnostic evaluations.
In reality, she and Morrissey have
narrowed that list to about 20 â&#x20AC;&#x153;pretty standardâ&#x20AC;? tests that they use for
evaluations, depending on the needs
of the student.
Often, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re testing elementaryage children. But they say theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve
also tested students from Stanford,
TRAFFIC
City set to rule on Professorville parking permits
Palo Alto City Council to consider pilot program for historic neighborhood
with a parking shortage
by Gennady Sheyner
P
rofessorville residents might
soon get more muscle in their
irksome tug-of-war with
downtown workers over parking
spots in the historic district â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a
parking-permit program that would
limit visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stays to two hours.
The program, which the City
Council will discuss Monday
night, is the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response to years
of complaints from the residential
neighborhood adjacent to the bustling high-tech scene in downtown
Palo Alto.
Unlike in downtown itself, where
parking is generally restricted to
two hours, Professorville currently
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have parking restrictions. To
make matters worse, most houses in
the neighborhood are so old, they
donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have garages. So when downtown employees park their cars on
the Professorville streets to avoid
time limits, residents find themselves without a spot.
Now, city staff is proposing to begin a trial permit-parking program
in August that will cover an area
roughly bounded by Addison Avenue to the north and Lincoln Avenue
to the south, between Emerson and
Bryant streets.
The city would give away one permit per household in Professorville
and allow additional permits to be
purchased for $50. The city would
make two-thirds of the for-sale
permits available only to residents,
while the rest could be purchased by
non-residents. The program would
be in effect from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
weekdays. The results will be evaluated next spring.
Staff had surveyed Professorville
residents last month and 83 percent
supported the trial; 17 percent opposed it.
The trial will measure how
many permits are sold, how adjacent neighborhoods are affected
and the costs and revenue of the
program, according to a report by
Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez.
Veronica Weber
Coaching students and parents for decades, Morrissey and Compton have seen every trend
Carolyn Compton, left, and Patricia Morrissey, founders of the
Morrissey-Compton Educational Center, sit in a classroom at Juana
Briones Elementary School where the summer program â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Challenge
School â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is hosted every year.
Princeton, Harvard â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;every major
university.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a number of kids here
who are at Stanford,â&#x20AC;? Compton said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;People say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How can there be
students at Stanford with a learning
disability?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Usually youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re smart and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve
had good tutoring and education, so
your scores on standardized tests
are pretty good, but the amount of
work it takes you to get those good
grades and scores is much heavier
than for other students.â&#x20AC;?
Occasionally, parents of a young
client will ask to be tested themselves.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;They say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just like me, and
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d really like to know,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Compton
said.
Increased academic pressure on
young children has led to more test-
ing, though not necessarily a greater
incidence of learning disabilities,
they said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The bar keeps going up a little
higher all the time,â&#x20AC;? Morrissey noted.
Compton, once a first-grade
teacher, said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The things that were
taught in first grade are now taught
in day care.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Actual curriculum is being
pushed down, and pressures on
young children are very high, so
more children get tested.â&#x20AC;?
Their advice to anxious parents
would be: â&#x20AC;&#x153;If theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re very anxious
parents they should gather information,â&#x20AC;? Morrissey said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The more solid, good information you have, the better equipped
you are to sort of understand what
Some residents heralded the
new program as a sorely needed
solution.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The parking crush from living in
a neighborhood adjacent to downtown Palo Alto is â&#x20AC;&#x201D; without question â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the most negative factor in
our daily existence in Palo Alto,â&#x20AC;?
Matt Mealiffe, who lives on Addison
Avenue, wrote in a letter to the council. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is also â&#x20AC;&#x201D; admittedly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
only thing that drives us to anything
resembling local political activism.â&#x20AC;?
But not everyone agrees with the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach. Some area residents and employees complained
in letters to the council that the
permit area is too small and that
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solution would only shift
the parking problem to other areas.
Donald Barr, a Stanford University
professor and affordable-housing
advocate who lives in Professorville, wrote to the council urging
it to reject the proposal.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is clear that street parking
during business hours has become
a scarce commodity in many neighborhoods of Palo Alto, including
ours,â&#x20AC;? Barr wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Parking on city
streets is a common good, shared by
residents and workers alike. I believe
it is your job to develop a process
that allocates that scarce good fairly
and equitably. The current proposal
does not do this.â&#x20AC;?
The residential parking-permit
program is one component of Palo
Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broader drive to make downtown parking easier and more efficient â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a plan that appears to be
working. In recent months, the city
revised its policies for downtown
garages to encourage workers to
park in these underused structures
rather than on residential streets.
Changes included converting the
fourth floor of the Bryant Street
garage to permit parking only and
introducing a new monthly rate
($45) for parking permits. Previously, the city only offered annual
or quarterly permits.
Since then, parking in garages
during the noon peak period has
increased an average of 20 percent
among parking-permit holders, according to Rodriguezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report. N
(continued on page 8)
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 5
Upfront
CITY HALL
East Palo Alto city manager
hunt down to the wire
Two candidates come from communities of minorities
and years in public service
by Sue Dremann
W
homever East Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
City Council chooses this
summer to become city
manager, he or she will possess a
background that promises to bring
understanding to the mix of rough
streets and diverse cultures that define the city.
The council is scheduled to hold a
closed session next Tuesday, July 17,
to discuss the final two candidates,
Jesus Nava and Magda Gonzalez.
Former manager ML Gordon resigned in January and was replaced
on an interim basis by Police Chief
Ronald Davis, who has not applied
for the job.
Nava, the City of Burlingameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
current finance director, grew up in
a tough San Antonio, Texas, barrio.
He is the second oldest of 11 children. In a career spanning 29 years,
he has been a city administrator in
some of the Westâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toughest towns.
That experience makes managing
East Palo Alto attractive, he said.
Magda Gonzalez, former Redwood City deputy city manager,
grew up in Redwood City and spent
her teen years working at the Fair
Oaks Community Center in the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core Latino district. The center provides services to some of the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most needy.
Nava has worked for governments
in San Antonio, Santa Barbara and
Denton, Texas. He was assistant
city manager in the border town of
Laredo, Texas, and city
manager in
Las Cruces,
N.M. He was
deputy city
manager in
San Jose, he
said.
He graduated from
the University of Texas Jesus Nava
in Austin in
1982 and holds a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in
public administration from the University of Kansas.
Gonzalez worked her way up to
director of Fair Oaks. She was deputy city manager in Redwood City
until she was laid off last year, and
she was president of the International Hispanic Network and is current
conference-planning chairperson at
the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
She graduated from Sequoia High
School in Redwood City in 1981 and
obtained a degree in social science
from California State University in
Sacramento. She has a law degree
from Santa Clara University.
Nava said his interest in public
service began with his parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; example. Both were community activists in the Texas Farmworkersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Movement and were active in political campaigns. His mother served
as the local Catholic Church parish
priest for a time.
It was common for her to enlist
her large family, including Nava, to
bring food
she cooked
to the sick
or to tell her
kids, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hey,
you need
to go mow
this personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
lawn today,â&#x20AC;?
he said.
Nava said
he wants to
Magda Gonzalez
help East
Palo Alto resolve its problems and to help position
the city for a strong financial future.
The city had an operational surplus of
$1 million in 2011, but it was taking
money from its reserves.
He said he also wants to move
forward with the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ravenswood
Business District/Four Corners
Transit Oriented Development Plan.
The city is depending on the redevelopment for a large chunk of its
future tax revenue and to help revitalize the area with housing, parkland, businesses and services.
East Palo Alto, like other California cities, faces challenges to
carrying forth its redevelopment
plans since the state dissolved redevelopment districts. The city laid
off its redevelopment staff earlier
this year.
If he is hired, Nava said his first job
is to â&#x20AC;&#x153;listen and learnâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to get a full
understanding of the city, the culture
of the government, and the council
and the community, he said.
Gonzalez did not return phone
calls requesting an interview, but
she has written that she became
hooked on local government while
still a teen working at Fair Oaks.
East Palo Alto Mayor Laura Martinez said Thursday that the council
would most likely take the rest of
the summer to finalize its decision
or possibly before the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recess, which starts Aug. 1. N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
Online This Week
These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout
the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news
or click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Newsâ&#x20AC;? in the left, green column.
School district hires new wellness coordinator
The Palo Alto school district will hire a county education worker
to coordinate district efforts on the social-emotional health of students. Brenda Carrillo, most recently a staff member in the Santa
Clara County Office of Education, replaces Amy Drolette. (Posted July
12 at 9:48 a.m.)
Mountain View driver arrested in deadly crash
Police on Tuesday, July 10, arrested the 21-year-old Mountain View
man they say hit and killed a well-known resident in a grisly June 21
collision on California Street. (Posted July 11 at 8:08 a.m.)
Two arrested in Palo Alto for having burglary tools
Two men who were spotted climbing a fence on Oxford Avenue were
arrested Sunday, July 8, for possession of burglary tools, Palo Alto
police Agent Adrienne Moore said. (Posted July 10 at 3:15 p.m.)
Man killed in Highway 101 crash identified
Multimedia
Advertising Sales Representative
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(Express) and community newspapers on the Peninsula, in the East Bay and in Marin.
A man who was killed in a multi-car pileup on U.S. Highway 101
in San Mateo early Sunday morning, July 8, has been identified as
29-year-old Mariano Ortega of San Martin, Argentina. (Posted July 10
at 11:23 a.m.)
Coroner: Stabbing led to Menlo Park manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death
The stab wounds Lawrence Cronin, 67, received March 26 did kill
the Menlo Park man two months later, San Mateo County Coroner
Robert Foucrault said. (Posted July 10 at 10:48 a.m.)
We are the leader in community news and local advertising solutions in the markets we
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Second fire burns near Paly in six weeks
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Palo Alto charges forward with new bike plan
We offer salary, commission, bonus plan, health benefits, paid time off and an environment
where success and achievement is rewarded.
Most importantly, the successful candidate must have a drive to be a top performer and
enjoy working with clients who are looking to our company to provide them with cost
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success in this position.
If you have the passion to achieve great success in your career and believe you can
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outstanding opportunity.
Qualified candidates will be contacted for an interview.
A fire Monday evening, July 9, near Palo Alto High School burned
in an area where the school district stores its buses. It was the second
suspicious fire in the area in six weeks. (Posted July 10 at 9:52 a.m.)
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream of leading the pack of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most bike-friendly cities now has a roadmap â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an ambitious â&#x20AC;&#x153;master planâ&#x20AC;? that the
City Council enthusiastically approved Monday night, July 9. (Posted
July 9 at 11:03 p.m.)
Rollover crash snarls traffic on Highway 101
A Hayward man was seriously injured in a rollover crash on U.S.
Highway 101 in Palo Alto Monday afternoon, July 9, a California
Highway Patrol officer said. (Posted July 9 at 3:54 p.m.)
One person killed Sunday in multi-car crash
The California Highway Patrol has contacted the driver of a white
pickup truck who fled the scene of a fatal crash on U.S. Highway 101
in San Mateo early Sunday morning, July 8, a CHP spokesman said
Monday, July 9. (Posted July 9 at 8:42 a.m.)
Please submit your resume and cover letter to:
Car flips in crash on Embarcadero and Middlefield
Tom Zahiralis, Vice President Sales and Marketing
tzahiralis@embarcaderopublishing.com
A woman suffered minor injuries after her car flipped in a crash at
the intersection of Embarcadero and Middlefield roads at 9:20 p.m.
Friday, July 6. (Posted July 6 at 10:51 p.m.)
Fourth of July DUI arrests drop in Bay Area
450 Cambridge Avenue | Palo Alto, CA 94306 | 650.326.8210
PaloAltoOnline.com | TheAlmanacOnline.com | MountainViewOnline.com
Page 6Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
DUI arrests were down throughout the Bay Area over the Independence Day holiday, authorities said Thursday, July 5. (Posted July 6 at
8:23 a.m.)
REAL ESTATE TRENDS
Upfront
by Samia Cullen
REDEVELOPMENT
California Avenue redesign evolves;
opposition persists
City looks to reduce lanes, add plaza, benches and trees to commercial strip
by Gennady Sheyner
ider sidewalks, new plazas
and a scattering of benches,
trees and other streetscape
amenities are the latest components
in Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambitious and controversial proposal to transform the California Avenue business district into a
bustling pedestrian thoroughfare.
The plan, which the Planning
and Transportation Commission
discussed and approved by a 4-0
vote Wednesday night, July 11, has
undergone a series of changes since
the city first began exploring it almost two years ago. The most significant and contentious part of the
proposal is the reduction of driving
lanes from four to two â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an idea
that continues to stir opposition
from dozens of merchants.
Though the proposed lane reduction featured prominently in Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hearing, with about a dozen
California Avenue business owners
attending to reassert their opposition, the commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision centered on the latest design proposals,
including a bench-filled plaza at the
east end of California Avenue with
bollards, new trees and a â&#x20AC;&#x153;green
screenâ&#x20AC;? of hedge blocking the view
of the Caltrain tracks.
David Gates, a consultant who
is working with the city on the designs, presented a â&#x20AC;&#x153;preferred planâ&#x20AC;?
that includes wider sidewalks, sandcolored paving, bollards that can be
used to temporarily remove parking
spots, and a plaza between Ash and
Birch streets that could be used for
farmers markets, music events and
other public functions.
The street would be reconfigured
to consist of two 15-foot-wide lanes
and a 3-foot-wide â&#x20AC;&#x153;street bandâ&#x20AC;?
separating travel lanes from parked
W
Housing
(continued from page 3)
The list of potential housing units
includes 1,335 that could be placed
in commercial districts capable of
accommodating mixed-use developments. It also includes 264 units
on sites that are currently zoned for
residential use.
The city had previously considered allowing residential units
to be built at city-owned parking
lots, provided the amount of parking spots does not get reduced. But
that proposal was shot down by the
councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Regional Housing Mandate Committee, which reviewed
the Housing Element in June.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We thought it was premature to
turn city parking lots into multi-unit
housing at this time, with so much
unsettled with parking and development in those areas,â&#x20AC;? said Councilman Greg Schmid, a member of the
committee.
Councilwoman Gail Price disagreed and argued that the city
should keep the parking-lot policy
cars. The plan also calls for a welllighted plaza at Park Boulevard featuring a fountain, a grassy area and
bike parking.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In all cases, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gaining vitality,
weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting better pedestrian character, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting more usability,â&#x20AC;?
Gates said, noting that the addition of
greenery and vegetation would both
calm traffic and create more shade.
The commission had a few concerns but found plenty to like about
the new designs. The four members
present (Chair Eduardo Martinez
was absent and Commissioner Samir
Tuma recused himself) voted to recommend that the City Council approve the latest design changes.
Palo Alto expects to fund the project
through a $1.2 million grant from the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission and from $700,000 in funds
from Valley Transportation Authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vehicle-registration fees. The city
would also contribute about $500,000
for the project, which officials hope to
break ground on by fall 2013.
Vice Chair Susan Fineberg called
the proposed Park Boulevard plaza
â&#x20AC;&#x153;absolutely lovely compared to
what is there nowâ&#x20AC;? and lauded the
proposed plan for plucking the best
streetscape elements from the various concept plans staff had considered before settling on the preferred
alternative. But like her colleagues,
she had major qualms about the level
of opposition from merchants.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not revisiting that decision
tonight, but I think weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still left
with the impact of the public that
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re saying,â&#x20AC;?
Fineberg said, referring to the decision to shift the street to two lanes.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a good position for the
city to be in, and I think we have to
in its Housing Element. She dissented in the final vote after the rest
of the council decided to scrap this
proposal.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do feel that this particular program ... provides flexibility and opportunity, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what Housing
Elements and Comprehensive Plans
should be all about â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not closing
doors but opening doors to opportunity,â&#x20AC;? Price said.
Local hotels are also part of the
new housing plan. Turning some hotel rooms into condominiums could
provide 113 housing units, Planning
Director Curtis Williams said.
But even as they prepared to
submit the document to the state,
council members continued to criticize the housing-allocation process,
which is directed by the Association
of Bay Area Governments. Councilman Larry Klein urged the city to
include in its submission to the state
a note regarding the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opposition to the process.
Kleinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colleagues shared his frustrations with the state mandates.
Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd alluded to the tension inherent in the
work to resolve that.â&#x20AC;?
Commissioner Arthur Keller
shared her concerns about the merchants, 55 of whom signed a petition
opposing the lane reduction. The
commission, under Kellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s direction,
asked staff to solicit from the merchants a proposal for a lane-reduction
trial period. Planning officials would
then consider whether the proposed
trial could be implemented.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The issue for me isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so much
to change the decision but the fact
that there is a significant amount of
the community that is up in arms
and feels that they havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been adequately heard,â&#x20AC;? Keller said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d feel
the investment of doing that would
be worthwhile to prove either that it
does work and that the impacts are
minimal or to avoid spending millions on a plan thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a disaster.â&#x20AC;?
A trial, however, could be problematic, Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez said. Though
lanes could be temporarily reduced,
the city would have a hard time replicating on a trial basis many of the
aesthetic enhancements in the plan,
including new paving and wider
sidewalks â&#x20AC;&#x201D; elements that are crucial to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also
the problem of measuring success,
Rodriguez said, because â&#x20AC;&#x153;everyone
will have a different opinion.â&#x20AC;?
So far, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traffic analysis
showed that the lane reduction would
not impact traffic levels, he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The traffic studies weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done do
a good job demonstrating that the impacts from the lane reduction arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
there,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no impact.â&#x20AC;?
Many disagreed. Robert Davidson, who launched one of two law(continued on page 11)
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey toward adopting the
Housing Element. On one hand, the
city is required to submit a document
to remain qualified for state grants
and to avoid potential litigation. On
the other hand, the community wants
to maintain its independent power to
set its own density objectives. The
document, she said, is a major source
of â&#x20AC;&#x153;angstâ&#x20AC;? in the community.
The councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to forward
the Housing Element to the state
will now prompt a dialogue between city and state officials about
the policies in the document. Once
the state signs off, the council can
adopt it and integrate it into its Comprehensive Plan, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official
land-use bible. But planners wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
be able to rest for long. The planning period for the newly approved
Housing Element stretches to 2014,
meaning the city will have to start
working on the documentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next iteration, which covers the following
seven years, within the next year,
Williams said. N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
2012 Semi-Annual Local
Market Activity and Trends
The local housing market showed
strength throughout the ďŹ rst half of
2012. The Facebook IPO fueled the
market, with the buzz being that buyers
were rushing to buy before Facebook
went public and pushed up home
prices.
At June 30 the listing inventory in
Palo Alto was at an almost historic low,
with 46 active listings as opposed to 64
listings at the same time last year. The
median sale price for the ďŹ rst half of
2012 was at a record high of $1,700,000
(compared to the previous record of
$1,552,000 in 2007), the sale to list
price ratio was 106% and the average
days on the market was 21 days. The
strongest sales activity was in the $2 to
$3 million price range followed by the
$1.2 to $1.4 million range.
In Menlo Park there were 44 active
listings at June 30, with 198 homes sold
during the ďŹ rst half at a median sale price
of $1,344,000, a sale to list price ratio of
102.5% and average days on market of
28 days. The strongest activity was in
the above $2 million range, followed by
the $1.5 to $2 million range.
Atherton had 37 active listings at June
30, with 33 houses sold in the ďŹ rst half
on MLS. The medium sale price was
$3,305,000 compared to $3,295,000
last year. It is worth noting that we had
strong sales activity off MLS, especially
in Atherton.
It seems that the market is more
balanced now than the beginning of the
year. We saw a slow-down in market
activity since early June. For now it is
hard to determine if this is the seasonal
summer slow-down or a letdown
following the Facebook IPO.
If you have a real estate question or would like a free market analysis for your home,
please call me at 650-384-5392, Alain Pinel Realtors, or email me at scullen@apr.com.
For the latest news, follow my blog at www.samiacullen.com.
www.menloparkchamber.com
July 21-22, 10am-6pm
Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park
s Contemporary Fine Art & Crafts
s Fabulous Food & Wine
s Home & Garden Exhibits
s Green Products Showcase
s Artisan Specialty Food Purveyors
s Health & Wellness Displays
s Microbrew & Wine Tasting Tent
s Chefsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Demos Under A Shady Tent
Celebrity Chef/Author Joanne Weir,
12:45 p.m. Saturday
s AutoVino Collector Car Show
s Action-Packed Kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fun Zone
ree, New
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s Stellar Lineup of Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Roll, Blues,
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s Saturday Twilight Concert
Featuring THE BIG DIG, Sensational
Party/Dance Band,
5:30 - 8 p.m. in Fremont Park
s Radio Disney Road Crew Games, Music
and Prizes
s Bicycle Parking in the Coldwell
Banker Lot, 930 Santa Cruz Ave.,
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of
Menlo Park
s Free Admission
Info-line: 650-325-2818 | www.miramarevents.com
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 7
Upfront
A free event for seniors
Learning
News Digest
might be going on, and the better
you are at projecting a program that
sounds realistic and reasonable.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t encourage people who
arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all that anxious to get kids tested at young ages. But when you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
know something, your anxiety can
create all kinds of images of things
that might not necessarily be true.â&#x20AC;?
Like Morrissey-Compton Educational Center, the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health
Council of Palo Alto â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where Compton once worked â&#x20AC;&#x201D; offers diagnostic
testing for learning disabilities.
The difference, said Compton, is
her group is â&#x20AC;&#x153;smaller and focused
almost entirely on learning disabilities, while the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health
Council does a much broader look at
mental health, speech and language,
and motor involvement.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;If a family calls and has many
issues, we often say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d do
much better to go to the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Health Council and get everything
in one place.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
For the past decade, MorrisseyCompton has tried to boost school
opportunities for kids in the juvenile
justice system and other county programs through arrangements with
the Santa Clara County departments
of Juvenile Probation and Child and
Family Services.
Though rarely serving those children directly, they counsel parents,
foster parents and social workers on
how to get special education and
other services.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you have children in the
court system, the likelihood of having
(learning) problems â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all kinds of
problems â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is huge,â&#x20AC;? Morrissey said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Often, the behavior problems
overwhelm the teacher so nobody
looks at the educational issue. Trying to get a child back on track has
been very rewarding, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been
very hard.â&#x20AC;?
They cited the case of a San Jose
boy picked up by the police for graffiti who got into further trouble for
using extreme profanity with police
and a judge. Morrissey and Compton suggested a psychiatric evaluation for Tourette Syndrome, which
turned out to be his diagnosis.
The case resulted in an apology
from the judge and a special program
for the boy within the San Jose Unified School District, Morrissey said.
Morrissey and Compton have tried
to diversify their caseload, creating
a scholarship fund and broadening
the summer program to include
some low-income students.
The fact that neither Morrissey
nor Compton has biological children
occasionally has led to skepticism
from parents.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I started out, people would
say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Unless youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a parent I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
think you can really understand the
parent perspective,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; but I think that
has passed,â&#x20AC;? Compton said.
Morrissey told of a recent lunch
with a client she once tutored who is
now a teacher in Palo Alto. The former client recalled that when learning
issues had come up when she was a
child, her mother would say: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Go talk
that over with your other mother.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can
be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.
com.
Palo Alto Chamber names MacKenzie interim CEO
(continued from page 5)
A fresh approach!
Saturday, July 28
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Palo Alto Medical Foundation
795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
Hearst Conference Center & Courtyard
Come enjoy:
Â&#x2021; Educational Seminars*
Â&#x2021; Music & Art by Seniors
Â&#x2021; Gardening Demos
Â&#x2021; Vendor Booths
Â&#x2021; Food Tastings
Â&#x2021; Raffle Prizes
*Special movie screening
from 2:30 - 4:15 p.m. of
â&#x20AC;&#x153;How to Live Foreverâ&#x20AC;?
sponsored by LYFE Kitchen
*Limited seating! To guarantee a seat at an
educational seminar and/or the movie, RSVP to
pamf.org/successfulaging or call (650) 853-4873.
Partnering together
for better health!
pamf.org
avenidasvillage.org
pamf.org/successfulaging
(650) 853-4873
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Free 15-minute consultation with physicians
from Sequoiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Joint Replacement Program.
Call today 650.482.6000
sequoiahospital.org
Page 8Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce has selected local businessman
David S.G. MacKenzie to serve as its interim president and CEO while
the organization searches for a permanent replacement for MacKenzieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
predecessor, Paul Wright.
The chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors announced that it has chosen MacKenzie, an accountant, because of his knowledge and understanding of the
Palo Alto community. According to the boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s announcement, MacKenzie has been working with Wright in recent months to improve the
organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administrative and management functions.
Wright resigned last month after six months on the job.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is the boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinion that Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blend of business acumen, familiarity with the Chamber and knowledge of the Palo Alto community
will provide the Chamber with sound organizational leadership as we
conduct our search to fill the permanent position,â&#x20AC;? board Chair Rebecca
Teutschel said in a statement.
In announcing its selection, the Chamber touted MacKenzieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more
than 35 years of experience on executive teams of various startups, large
companies and nonprofit organizations. He is past president of the Palo
Alto/University Rotary Club and has served on boards at the Lucile
Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the
Cantor Arts Center.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Palo Alto is where I was born, have lived, worked and volunteered,â&#x20AC;?
MacKenzie said in a statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I look forward to working more closely
with the business community and other organizations to ensure it continues to be the kind of city I am very proud to say Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been associated with
as a resident, family member and business person my entire life.â&#x20AC;? N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gennady Sheyner
Pinterest moves HQ from Palo Alto to San Francisco
On Monday, July 9, growing social-networking giant Pinterest moved
its headquarters from Palo Alto to San Francisco, the company announced.
Employees vacated the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarters at 635 High St. after
CEO Ben Silberman signed a lease for the new building in San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South of Market neighborhood, citing the appeal of reasonably
priced office space and the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s available technology talent as reasons
for the move. The neighborhood also houses the headquarters of socialgames juggernaut Zynga and Airbnb, an online room-rental service.
According to Pinterest spokesman Barry Schnitt, the company has
officially signed a short-term lease for 572 7th St. at Brannan Street and
has plans to expand that space in the future.
The company has been headquartered in Palo Alto since it was founded
in 2010. Pinterest allows users to collect photos online and â&#x20AC;&#x153;pinâ&#x20AC;? the images into categorized collections, or boards. Users can create multiple
pinboards, which can be shared with followers.
Though the site currently requires an invitation for access, it has experienced rapid growth in recent months. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Helen Carefoot
PG&E work may affect traffic through July
Commuters experiencing traffic delays on East Bayshore Road near
Embarcadero Road should expect slowdowns for the rest of July. PG&E
crews are excavating a gas-transmission line to test for hazardous conditions.
The corrosion inspections are part of an extensive testing project the
utility must conduct on parts of its aging infrastructure. The state ordered
PG&E to test parts of its network after a segment of Line 132 in San
Bruno exploded, killing seven people and injuring scores of others in
September 2010.
Sections of other pipelines â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including Line 101, which runs through
Palo Alto along the U.S. Highway 101 corridor â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have come under
scrutiny because of a pipe-seam weld that is similar to one implicated in
the San Bruno blast.
A PG&E study considers 239 of its natural-gas transmission lines
to be at risk of a similar failure, including segments of Line 101 on
the Peninsula, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on June 6. PG&E
identified more than 500 spots on those lines throughout a 48-mile area
that are at risk.
The stretch of Line 101 in Palo Alto is 2.5 miles long and includes no
fewer than five different pipe types, ranging from 20 inches to 36 inches
in diameter, according to PG&E. Because of its complexity, testing the
pipe has been difficult.
PG&E in November announced it would replace parts of Line 101 in
Palo Alto. During a routine inspection June 28, a leak requiring immediate repair was found and fixed, according to the City of Palo Alto.
PG&E plans to install a permanent station for launching pipeline-inspection devices adjacent to East Bayshore to allow ongoing inspections
of the line. Construction of this facility is delayed until 2013.
The public can check the status of the work and other PG&E projects
in town by visiting the city Utilities Department website at www.cityofpaloalto.org/utilities. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sue Dremann
Upfront
High-speed rail
(continued from page 3)
nia voters weigh in a second time
on the high-speed-rail project. Although a bill by State Sen. Doug
LaMalfa, R-Richvale, met a quick
death on the Senate floor last week,
a group of opponents led by former
U.S. Rep. George Radanovich is
pursuing a similar citizen initiative. In its petition, the group argues
that the state â&#x20AC;&#x153;cannot afford to pay
for a high-speed train system that
will cost more than $100 billion at
a time when teachers and police are
being laid off, prisoners are being
released from prisons, and taxpayers are being asked to dig deeper
into their own pockets to pay for
basic services.â&#x20AC;?
The Palo Alto City Council,
which last December adopted as its
official stance a call for the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
termination, is scheduled to consider endorsing the citizen initiative on
July 23. The councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rail Committee has recommended that the full
council do exactly that, even though
state law bars the city from spending money on the campaign.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our action might be helpful
to the cause symbolically,â&#x20AC;? Klein
said.
Meanwhile, city officials and
rail watchdogs are still analyzing
the text of Senate Bill 1029, which
lawmakers released in the waning hours of July 3 and which the
40-member state Senate approved
by a single vote on July 6. Elizabeth
Alexis, co-founder of the Palo Altobased group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design, said
the group remains concerned about
where the rest of the funds for the
system will come from.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you look at full costs and
benefits in Central Valley â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
very little positive transportation
value unless you spend another $30
billion dollars,â&#x20AC;? Alexis said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The
concern is that this will act as a
sponge for all available money that
can go to other worthy projects.â&#x20AC;?
The specific language of the budget-trailer bill only adds to the anxiety. For example, the bill allocates
$1.1 billion for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;blended systemâ&#x20AC;?
on the Peninsula â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a design under
which high-speed rail and Caltrain
can share two tracks between San
Jose and San Francisco. But the bill
also states that the $1.1 billion can
be transferred to other items, including construction in the Central Valley (known in the bill as Item 2665306-6043), with approval from the
state Department of Finance.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It looks like accounting minutiae,
but if you translate it, it means that
with one signature from a governor
appointee, the money for Caltrain
can be moved to the Central Valley
project,â&#x20AC;? Alexis said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first time you read a bill it
seems very clear to you,â&#x20AC;? she added.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only on the 12th reading of the
bill that you really understand all
the loopholes.â&#x20AC;?
Palo Alto officials have other
concerns about the specific bill,
including the fact that the language
specifies that â&#x20AC;&#x153;any funds appropriated in this itemâ&#x20AC;? shall be used for a
blended system and not to â&#x20AC;&#x153;expand
the blended system to a dedicated
four-track system.â&#x20AC;? City officials argued that this language doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t offer
sufficient protection to ensure that
the rail authority would pursue a
blended system rather than the deeply unpopular four-track alternative.
They called for language specifying
that â&#x20AC;&#x153;funding in subsequent years
may also not be used for a four-track
system on the Peninsula.â&#x20AC;?
Despite major reservations from
all Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate, the appropriation bill received 21 votes, the minimum needed for advancement. The
bill allocates $2.7 billion from the
Proposition 1A bond to launch construction on the systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening
segment in the Central Valley and
another $1.1 billion to support the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;blended systemâ&#x20AC;? on the Peninsula.
The state Assembly had voted 51-27
on July 5 to approve the bill.
Much like in the Assembly, members of the Senate lined up largely
along party lines, with Democrats
supporting and Republicans opposing the bill. But some Senators,
including Joe Simitian, D-Palo
Alto, and Alan Lowenthal, D-Long
Beach, crossed the party lines and
voted against the project. Both of
them have been heavily involved in
oversight of the project since 2008,
when voters approved a $9.95 billion bond for high-speed rail.
Supporters of the appropriation
bill, led by Senate President Pro
Tem Darrell Steinberg, argued that
the rail project is badly needed to
create jobs and improve Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
transportation infrastructure.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In this era of term limits, how
many chances do we have to vote
for something this important and
long-lasting?â&#x20AC;? Steinberg asked his
colleagues at the beginning of the
debate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How many chances do we
have to vote for something that will
inject a colossal stimulus into todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy while looking at the
future far beyond our days in this
house?â&#x20AC;?
Simitian rejected this logic and
focused on the particulars of the
bill. He cited the fact that the rail
authority has a leadership structure
riddled with vacancies and that the
bulk of the funding in the bill would
go toward a 130-mile track in the
Central Valley. He also noted that
the bill fails to answer the critical
question of how the rest of the $68
billion system would be funded and
cited criticism from a variety of
nonpartisan agencies, including the
Legislative Analystâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office and the
Office of the State Auditor.
Simitian also alluded to the Field
Poll conducted last week, which
showed that the controversial project could derail the tax measure that
Gov. Jerry Brown plans to bring to
the voters in November. Though 54
percent of the survey respondents
said they support Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal,
a third of those surveyed said they
would be less likely to vote in favor of the measure if the legislature
were to fund high-speed rail.
Simitian cited the souring public
opinion for the project in explaining
his vote. By chasing the $3.3 billion
in federal funding for high-speed
rail, Simitian said, the legislature
is risking a $40 billion hole in the
budget that lawmakers would have
to fill if Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s measure fails.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;How are we going to feel if we
wake up on Wednesday after Election Day and look at the trigger cuts
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the $40 billion that will have to
be pulled painfully from the budget â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from schools, colleges, universities, health, welfare and public
safety?â&#x20AC;? Simitian said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We may not
think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the way it ought to be
but the hard practical reality is that
thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the way the folks back home
are thinking about these tradeoffs.â&#x20AC;?
In the Assembly, both Jerry Hill
and Rich Gordon voted to support
the appropriation bill. Gordon said
at the Assembly hearing that he
went through a â&#x20AC;&#x153;period of doubtâ&#x20AC;?
on the high-speed-rail project but
that his â&#x20AC;&#x153;faith has been restoredâ&#x20AC;?
by the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s embracing of
the blended approach, which he had
championed along with Simitian
and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do think that this is a part and
parcel of our future, and I think
the projects that are defined in this
legislation also stand alone on their
own for the moment, as we move in
the future toward full implementation of high-speed rail,â&#x20AC;? Gordon
said. N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
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J o i n U s ! M e m b e r s h i p i s o p e n t o i n d i v i d u a l s w h o l i v e , w o r k o r a t t e n d s c h o o l i n S a n t a C l a r a C o u n t y.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 9
Upfront
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District
Strong Schools Bond â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight Committee
Senior Citizen Member
The Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District Board of Education
seeks an applicant for appointment to the independent,
volunteer Strong Schools Bond Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight
Committee. The Committee reviews and report to the
public on the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bond expenditures. The applicant
must be active in a senior citizen organization and must
reside within the Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District. An
applicant may not be an employee, contractor, consultant,
or vendor of the District.
The successful applicants will serve a two-year term that
will extend from the date of appointment to August 22,
2014.
The purpose of the Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight Committee (COC)
is to inform the public concerning the expenditure of bond
revenues. The COC is required by state law to actively
review and report on the proper expenditure of taxpayersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
money for school construction.
Application forms can be obtained by writing to: Dr.
Kevin Skelly, Superintendent, Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School
District, 25 Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306, or by
emailing:Ibaranoff@pausd.org. You can obtain information
by phone by calling 650-329-3737.
Completed applications must be sent to: Dr. Kevin Skelly,
Superintendent, Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District, 25
Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306, or emailed to:
Ibaranoff@pausd.org. All applications must be received
by Friday, July 20, 2012 at 4:30 pm.
Page 10Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
This week on
Town Square
Blog: London 94301
Posted July 9 at 2:38 p.m. by David Vinokur, a former resident of the
Crescent Park neighborhood:
Hello again from soggy London.
Today a nationwide drought (or garden
â&#x20AC;&#x153;hosepipe banâ&#x20AC;?) was officially called
off after the wettest spring in recorded
history. Who wouldaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thought? In my
ongoing efforts to give you my expatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
perspective on London living and attending the London 2012 Olympic
Games (including the opening ceremony), I will try to strike a balance
between what I find noteworthy and
what you might deem interesting about
the Games of the XXX Olympiad. In
that vein I will return another time to
the topic of life on a crowded island.
Right now, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk sports.
Growing up in Palo Alto, two of
my favorite sports to play were soccer and tennis. I also loved badminton at Jordan and Paly. What luck to
find myself living in the country that
created these sports. Britain is, of
course, also the land that gave us golf
and rugby, the latter of which is the
clear progenitor of American football.
Even the indigenous game of rounders
can plausibly be considered the birthsport (when spliced with cricket) of
Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pastime. So yes, Britain is
absolutely a sporting nation.
Read more online by going to
www.PaloAltoOnline.com /square
and clicking â&#x20AC;&#x153;London 94301.â&#x20AC;?
Merger
(continued from page 3)
felt with the economy being what it
is, it would be better to partner,â&#x20AC;? she
said by phone last week.
InnVision had been struggling
financially for some years. Net assets for the years ending June 30
dropped $220,672 in 2008, rose
slightly in 2009, then plunged
$626,188 in 2010 and by $1,011,862
in 2011, according to financial statements. An independent auditor did
not find any deficiencies in InnVisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial reporting.
Burroughs offered perhaps a prescient outlook on InnVisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future
in May 2009 during an interview:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m on pins and needles, to tell you
the truth,â&#x20AC;? she said.
On April 30, 2011, the organization closed the Clara-Mateo Alliance
homeless shelter on the grounds of the
Veterans Affairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Menlo Park campus because of the lean economy, she
said at the time. The shelter offered
transitional housing for families and
single adults, and 67 percent of the
single residents were veterans.
Lisle said the merger offer came
at a time when Shelter Network
was looking to increase its ability
to house people. Over the past two
years, an average of 50 families and
more than 70 individuals have been
turned away every night for lack of
space, she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;With more than 18 major facilities, we can increase the capacity
of the people we serve by three-
fold. ... We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to start from
scratch,â&#x20AC;? she said.
San Mateo County provides families with children a hotel voucher
if there is no room at a shelter, she
said. But that does not achieve the
goal of getting them into a stable
environment and then permanent
housing. The merger will allow
more people to quickly gain access
to shelter and housing at a fraction
of the cost, Lisle said.
Both agencies hold similar philosophies, she said. Both have a no-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol
and offer comprehensive services
such as counseling for drug and alcohol addiction, unemployment and
mental illness.
Approximately 60 percent of both
agenciesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; homeless clients are families, and of those more than half are
children under age 18. Roughly 40
percent of transitional-housing clients are single adults, spokesperson
Maria Duzon said.
While InnVision charged fees for
shelter, the new organization is offering shelter at no charge. It will
adopt Shelter Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beyond
the Bedâ&#x20AC;? program, in which clients
must work toward an education,
job and saving 50 percent of their
budget for housing and other essential living expenses. More than 90
percent of families graduating from
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beyond the Bedâ&#x20AC;? have found and
maintained permanent housing in
about 120 days â&#x20AC;&#x201D; slightly over half
the national average time.
InnVisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clients stayed in shelters slightly longer than the national
Upfront
average of 232 days, Duzon said.
Lisle said she plans to hire 10 to
20 more caseworkers to aid clients.
There are no planned staff layoffs or
program closures.
Palo Alto services are not expected to change, she said. The agency
has just renewed a contract with the
Opportunity Center for another five
years.
The merger did not come as a
surprise to leaders at the nonprofit
Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which has provided grants for
InnVisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food and housing programs for the past few years.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were aware that the merger
was happening,â&#x20AC;? said Erica Wood,
vice president of community leadership and grant making.
In 2008 the foundation held a
conference that predicted many
nonprofits would look for new partnerships in order to survive.
Porcia Chen Silverberg, executive director of Thrive: The Alliance of Nonprofits for San Mateo
County, a membership organization, said the financial crisis for
nonprofits is not over.
Providers of â&#x20AC;&#x153;safety netâ&#x20AC;? services,
such as InnVision, initially received
boosts from donors to help close
funding holes in 2008, she said. But
in the last couple of years people
have pulled away from giving, although itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not clear why.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not getting better any time
soon, even though the economy is
getting better and starting to turn
around. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just like city governments.
You see fire departments are merging
between cities. Funding is being cut
in every direction,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is itself the product of a
merger. It formed from Santa Clara
County-based Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula
Community Foundation in San Mateo County in 2007.
CEO and President Emmett Carson said last February that it took
time to rebuild the trust of donors,
some of whom feared the merged
foundation would no longer fund
the projects they supported. Lisle
said she is aware of that similar
challenge for InnVision Shelter Network, but Silverberg lent her support
to the merger.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Their missions align pretty well,â&#x20AC;?
she said.
One of the biggest challenges is
creating one board of directors out
of two organizations. Board members are deeply passionate about
their own organization, and sometimes boards canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reconcile those
differences. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big reason why
mergers can fail, she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;That these two boards are willing to come together â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that says a
whole lot to me about this merger,â&#x20AC;?
she said.
Dan Coonan, InnVision board
president, said he supports the
merger.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Karae is absolutely the perfect
person to carry on the tremendous
work Christine has been doing for
decades in this area. ... It is a very
good day for this critical cause in the
Bay Area,â&#x20AC;? he wrote in an email. N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
California Avenue
Area Development Association,
called the streetscape plan â&#x20AC;&#x153;excellentâ&#x20AC;? and lauded the city for collaborating with merchants and making
everyone aware of the changes to
come. The association, she said,
has been discussing streetscape improvements for California Avenue
with the city for many years.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is exciting because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
like the Rolls Royce version of the
streetscape that always seemed out
of reach,â&#x20AC;? Devincenzi said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This
design just oozes city excitement.â&#x20AC;?
The planning commission added a
list of stipulations to its approval, including recommendations that staff
consider such elements as raised
crosswalks and parklets (planted
strips). The commission also directed staff to pay attention to loading
zones in the new design, a particular
concern of area merchants.
Even though the commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approval calls for exploration of a trial
period, members stressed the need to
keep the project going without delay.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to move
this forward and to move relatively
quickly,â&#x20AC;? Commissioner Greg Tanaka said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If anyone has walked down
California Avenue, you can see that
a lot of tender loving care is needed
on that street.â&#x20AC;? N
(continued from page 7)
suits to stop the project (the court
dismissed the suit because Davidson
didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exhaust his â&#x20AC;&#x153;administrative
remediesâ&#x20AC;? before filing the suit), argued that the lane reduction doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
make sense and that city officials
are only pursuing it in order to get
the VTA grant. The street, he said,
fills up in the morning with young
students on bicycles and with buses
and shuttle vans picking up passengers from the Caltrain stations.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It seems like we can get that free
money, which is never free, and
that the only way we can get the
money is to have a lane reduction,â&#x20AC;?
said Davidson, owner of California
Paint Company.
Terry Shuchat, who also sued the
city over its environmental analysis
(the court found in favor of the city,
but the litigation forced Palo Alto to
forgo its $1.2 million grant from the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission last year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; money city officials expect to receive in the next
grant round), made a similar point.
Shuchat, owner of Keeble & Shuchat
Photography, praised most of the elements of the plan, including the new
landscape improvements but urged
the council not to reduce lanes.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great-looking plan,â&#x20AC;?
Shuchat said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phenomenal on paper. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really
practical to put into use.â&#x20AC;?
Others said the streetscape plan, including the lane reductions, is exactly
what the neighborhood needs. Todd
Burke, who lives close to the California Avenue train station, disputed the
assertion that the street is too busy to
accommodate a reduction in lanes.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can go there in the middle of
the day and cook a pork chop on a
hibachi and probably not get hit by
a car,â&#x20AC;? Burke said.
He characterized some of the opposition from merchants as â&#x20AC;&#x153;hyperbole.â&#x20AC;? The project, he said, would
be great for his neighbors and for all
businesses on California Avenue.
Ronna Devincenzi, a former board
member at the California Avenue
CityView
A round-up of
Palo Alto government action this week
City Council (July 9)
Bicycle plan: The council approved the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which
proposes a wide range of long-term improvements to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bicycle infrastructure.
Yes: Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Price, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh Absent: Burt
Housing Element: The council agreed to forward the draft Housing Element to the
state Department of Housing and Community Development. Yes: Espinosa, Holman,
Klein, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd No: Price Absent: Burt
Council Policy and Services Committee (July 10)
Priorities: The committee discussed the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority-setting process and recommended that the committee make an annual recommendation to the full council
about the process of the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual retreat. Yes: Unanimous
Planning and Transportation Commission
(July 11)
California Avenue: The commission discussed the streetscape-improvement project
at California Avenue and recommended the latest proposed design enhancements,
including wider sidewalks and a plaza at Park Boulevard. The commission also recommended a trial period for reducing lanes from four to two. Yes: Fineberg, Keller,
Michael, Tanaka Absent: Martinez Recused: Tuma
Utilities Advisory Commission (July 11)
Electric portfolio: The commission discussed and recommended approving staffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
proposed definition for â&#x20AC;&#x153;carbon neutralityâ&#x20AC;? as it pertains to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electric portfolio.
Yes: Unanimous
Electric rates: The commission approved a modified version of staff recommendation for a pilot program for time-of-use electric rates for all residential customers.
Staff proposal was to adopt the pilot program only for customers with electric vehicles. Yes: Chang, Cook, Hall, Melton, Waldfogel No: Eglash
Architectural Review Board (July 12)
Ronald McDonald House: The board discussed but did not vote on the proposed
expansion of the Ronald McDonald House at 50 El Camino Real. The three-story
building would include 70 rooms on a 51,167-square-foot site adjacent to the existing
Ronald McDonald House. Action: None
Public Agenda
A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week
CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to discuss downtown-parking strategies and consider approving a trial residential permit parking program in
and around Professorville. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Monday,
July 16, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). The
meeting will be followed by a closed session to discuss the status of the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s negotiations with the two police unions.
HISTORIC RESOURCES BOARD ... The board plans to discuss 411 Lytton,
a proposal to designate an example of the square cottage building type
to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Historic Inventory in Category 2; 1213 Newell Road, proposed
additions to the Main Library; and 1305 Middlefield Road, a request for
a sign program at Rinconada Park. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. on
Wednesday, July 18, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton
Ave.).
ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to discuss 1213
Newell Road, a proposed expansion of the Main Library and various landscape improvements at the site. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on
Thursday, July 19, in the Downtown Library (270 Forest Ave.).
PUBLIC ART COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss its website and Byxbee Park art. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday,
July 19, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
of the Palo Alto
Planning & Transportation Commission
Please be advised the Planning and Transportation Commission
(P&TC) shall conduct a public meeting at 6:00 PM, Wednesday,
July 25, 2012 in the Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Civic
Center, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items.
Staff reports for agendized items are available via the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main
website at www.cityofpaloalto.org and also at the Planning Division Front Desk, 5th Floor, City Hall, after 2:00 PM on the Friday
preceding the meeting date. Copies will be made available at the
Development Center should City Hall be closed on the 9/80 Friday.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Public Hearing:
1. Comprehensive Plan Amendment: Review of Vision Statement, Goals, Policies and Programs of the Community Services
and Facilities Element.
NEW BUSINESS.
Public Hearing:
2. Arastradero Road Re-Striping Trial Project: Recommendation for the Permanent Retention of the Arastradero Road ReStriping Trial Project between El Camino Real and Gunn High
School for the re-striping of Arastradero Road from four lanes to a
hybrid of three lanes in some sections and various trafďŹ c calming
and roadway modiďŹ cations.
Questions. For any questions regarding the above items, please
contact the Planning Department at (650) 329-2441. The ďŹ les
relating to these items are available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This public meeting is
televised live on Government Access Channel 26.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City
facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings,
or to learn more about the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compliance with the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ADA
Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.
***
Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 11
Cover Story
Veronica Weber
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
TICKING TIME
B MB
Employee pensions
are helping fuel
fiscal crisis
by Gennady Sheyner
I
Veronica Weber
n 2007, the year Warren Buffett famously described public pensions as a time bomb with a
long fuse, Palo Alto officials decided to add a
little gunpowder to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefits package.
The economy was booming, real-estate prices
were surging and the council decided that the time
was ripe to improve the pension benefit for employees represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), about half the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce. The rapidly rising cost of health care was
of greater concern to city officials, who sought to
switch the SEIU workers to a less generous health
care plan. In exchange, the city offered to bump up
the unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension formula from â&#x20AC;&#x153;2 percent at 55â&#x20AC;?
(that is, 2 percent of the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest salary
multiplied by the number of years worked before
retirement at 55) to â&#x20AC;&#x153;2.7 percent at 55.â&#x20AC;?
But Buffettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aphorism notwithstanding, the fuse
on Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time bomb wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly long.
In 2008, as the stock market began to plummet
and real-estate investments started to tank, city
Top: The Palo Alto City Council discusses union negotiations at its June 25 meeting. Above: Service Employees
International Union members attend the council meeting to voice their opinions. Staff compensation currently makes up
63 percent of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s General Fund.
Page 12Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Cover Story
YOUR
GET K
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TIC E
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NO !
7/14
The Roy Ha
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Fountain o es
f Youth
Photo: Caro
l Friedman
Band
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s as if he were dancing around the
drum kit.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;NPR
7/15
Wayne Wallace
7/16
Victor Wooten
7/17
Charlie Musselwhite
Tickets on sale now for these shows:
7/18
7/19
7/21
Houston Person Quartet
Agent Band
7/31
Kenny Barron/Terell Stafford/
stanfordjazz.org
Dayna Stephens
650-725-2787
Vertical Voices
L U C I L E PA C K A R D
Veronica Weber
Ratu Serumalani, a maintenance worker for the Community Services
Department, speaks to the City Council. The council plans to discuss
how to rein in pension costs in September.
leaders realized that the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generous pension packages â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a lasting
legacy of the pre-recession era â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
could not be sustained. The following year, they launched the period of
unraveling that continues to this day
and that is set to take center stage
in the coming months, as the city
tries to formulate a broader strategy
for containing out-of-control benefit
expenditures.
Some progress has already been
made. In 2009, after loud protests,
heated negotiations and a one-day
strike by SEIU workers, Palo Alto
became the first city in the region to
implement a second pension tier for
new employees, one with a less lucrative formula. Last year, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
firefighters accepted a second pension tier as part of a new union contract, and in May, after nine months
of negotiations, police officers followed suit.
But even with these changes, the
fuse continues to burn at an accelerating clip. In 2002 and 2003, the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension expenditures were
$3.8 million and $2.4 million, respectively. Since 2008, annual expenditures have consistently hovered
around $20 million. The budget for
2013, which the City Council adopted last month, projects $23.1 million
in pension costs. And with investments by California Public Employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Retirement System (CalPERS)
running far below projections this
year, City Manager James Keene
expects expenses to continue to
grow in the coming years, he said
in a recent interview.
The issue of pensions is a common
topic at the dais at City Hall â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially during the spring when the
council considers its annual budget.
Increasingly, employee compensation is taking up a greater share of
the budget, leaving the council and
staff with less to fund city programs
and services. This year, financial
pressures prompted officials to propose outsourcing the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popular
animal-services operation in order
to save roughly $500,000 a year.
The city ultimately elected to keep
the service in-house, but staff is now
scrambling to find annual savings of
$470,000.
Staff compensation now makes
up about 63 percent of the General
Fund. The benefits share has grown
particularly fast in recent years. In
2002, the proportion of dollars spent
on employee benefits to salaries was
23 percent. That ratio went up to 54
percent in 2010 and to 63 percent by
fiscal year 2012.
Health care expenses jumped
from about $10 million in 2002 to a
projected $24 million in fiscal year
2013, which began July 1. They are
expected to approach $30 million
in two years. Pensions, meanwhile,
jumped from $3.8 million in 2002 to
$23.9 million in 2012. In 10 years,
employee benefit costs will exceed
salaries, the city projects.
Vice Mayor Greg Scharff alluded
to these trends at a May 7 meeting,
when the council was discussing the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term financial forecast.
Medical and pension costs, Scharff
said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;are running at an unsustainable rate and crowding out everything else.â&#x20AC;? As a result, he said, the
citizens of Palo Alto arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t getting
a fair shake.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;What weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re asking people to do
is to accept a lower quality of life so
that we can fund pensions and benefits that are growing at an outrageous pace,â&#x20AC;? Scharff said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
accept that that should be the plan.â&#x20AC;?
But, as city officials often acknowledge, identifying the problem
is far easier than solving it. The
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual expenditures hinge
on a wide range of decisions, many
of which get made in Sacramento.
Palo Alto employees are among the
(continued on next page)
More shows, details & tickets at
Akira Tanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret
C H I L D R E N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S H O S P I TA L
PROVIDED BY LUCILE PACKARD CHILDRENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HOSPITAL
Your Childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health University
Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital offers classes and
seminars designed to foster good health and enhance
the lives of parents and children.
NEW FAMILY PROGRAM
Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital oďŹ&#x20AC;ers two group forum options for new parents and their infants.
Our groups provide support and camaraderie for moms and dads while promoting conďŹ dence
and well-being.
- Mother-Baby Mornings: Tuesdays, 10:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11:30 am
- Evening Parent Group: First Monday of each month, 6:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 7:30 pm
GRANDPARENTS SEMINAR
Designed for new and expectant grandparents, this class examines changes in labor and
delivery practices, the latest recommendations for infant care and the unique role of
grandparents in the life of their grandchild.
- Monday, August 13: 6:00 - 8:30 pm
THE SUPRISING RISK OF BACK PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN:
WHAT EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW NOW!
An evening talk with Dr. Meghan Imrie, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatric Orthopedics
at Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital. Dr. Imrie will discuss ways our childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backs are put
at risk and how to stay vigilant to prevent injury. This is a free seminar however RSVP is requested.
- Thursday, August 23: 7:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8:30 pm
INFANT MASSAGE WORKSHOP
Learn the techniques of infant massage along with tips to relieve gas, aid digestion and soothe
the soreness of vaccination sites on your baby. Recommended for infants from one month of
age to crawling.
- Friday, August 24: 10:30 am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12:30 pm
Call (650) 724-4601 or visit calendar.lpch.org to register or obtain more
information on the times, locations and fees for these and other courses.
VI S IT LP CH.ORG TO S IG N U P FOR CLAS S E S
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 13
Cover Story
Pensions
(continued from previous page)
roughly 1.6 million workers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; active and retired â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who participate
in CalPERS, the largest pension
fund in the nation.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we need to do is we need
to basically bring down pension and
medical costs, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re really hampered in our ability to do that given
state law and legacy issues and inability to change pre-existing costs
for people who are retired and all
sorts of issues out there like that,â&#x20AC;?
Scharff said.
Councilman Pat Burt echoed this
sentiment and said that even under
recent revisions to pension formulas, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Employees do very well.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Retiree pension and retiree medical â&#x20AC;&#x201D; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blowing up the
budget,â&#x20AC;? Burt said.
He cited the â&#x20AC;&#x153;3 percent at 55â&#x20AC;? pension formula recently adopted by
public-safety employees and the fact
that all employees still get 90 percent of their familiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; medical coverage paid for by the city. Salaries
may remain frozen or get trimmed,
Burt said, but Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefits
remain extremely lucrative.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential that they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
be getting a fair shake on salaries,
but even new employees get a very
fair shake on pension and benefits,â&#x20AC;?
Burt said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the benefit side, new
employees still do very well.â&#x20AC;?
Now, Scharff, Burt, Councilman
Greg Schmid and Councilwoman
Karen Holman hope to launch a
broader discussion on reforming
employee benefits. Last week, they
released a colleaguesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; memo that
calls for the city to come up with a
â&#x20AC;&#x153;benefits strategyâ&#x20AC;? that would guide
future reforms. In the memo, they
note that the cost of employee benefits and pensions â&#x20AC;&#x153;has risen dramatically for the City of Palo Alto,
reducing the funds available for our
communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s necessary and valued
services and infrastructure.â&#x20AC;? They
recommend the city work with employees to come up with solutions
to the pension problem with the the
goal of â&#x20AC;&#x153;building a modern, flexible
workplace environment for Palo
Alto City employees while also assuring sustainable costs for its citizens.â&#x20AC;?
The council plans to launch this
discussion in September.
FY 2010 unfunded liabilities for countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s large cities
City
Debt per Resident
Pension
OPEB*
Total
Palo Alto
$4,021
$153,941,000
$105,045,000
$258,986,000
San Jose
$3,320
$1,434,696,471
$1,706,081,881
$3,140,778,352
Santa Clara
$2,125
$223,667,947
$23,855,000
$247,522,947
Mountain View
$1,803
$104,121,296
$29,396,467
$133,517,763
Sunnyvale
$1,728
$149,300,000
$92,800,000
$242,100,000
Santa Clara County
$1,547
$1,455,835,322
$1,300,000,000
$2,755,835,322
Milpitas
$1,518
$70,166,975
$31,230,798
$101,397,773
Gilroy
$819
$35,100,000
$4,900,000
$40,000,000
Cupertino
$629
$18,581,728
$18,069,366
$36,651,094
$3,645,410,739
$3,311,378,512
$6,956,789,251
Total
*Other post-employment benefits
Top 10 City of Palo Alto pension earners
For July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012
Name & Title
Employment Start
Employment End
Total Gross Allowance
Lynne Johnson
Police chief
2/3/1975
2/3/2009
201,953
Frank Benest
City manager
4/10/2000
8/29/2008
193,351
Richard James
Community services director
8/6/1979
7/4/2008
178,681
William Miks
Wastewater plant manager
10/2/1972
1/19/2007
176,067
Paul Thiltgen
Community services director
8/31/1981
4/2/2004
172,538
June Fleming
City manager
9/10/1968
4/7/2000
168,398
Nicholas Marinaro
Fire chief
10/15/1994
6/29/2010
166,157
Daniel Lindsey
Fire deputy chief
5/22/1999
10/24/2009
164,774
Edward Mrizek
Utilities director
2/17/1969
12/30/1998
160,767
Jay Rounds
Human resources director
1/26/1970
12/28/2001
149,499
P
alo Alto employees make no
secret of the fact that generous employee benefits were
a major driver in their decisions to
join the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce.
Before a council meeting June
25, about 40 employees represented
by the SEIU gathered in City Hall
to address the council, which was
scheduled to go into closed session
to discuss the status of labor negotiations. Employees spoke about
morale problems in the workforce
and urged the council not to make
any drastic benefit reductions.
Robert Item, an engineer in the
Utilities Department, said he had
previously worked as a consultant
in the private sector.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The (cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) benefits were something I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen in the private
sector,â&#x20AC;? Item said, explaining his
decision to make the switch.
Palo Alto isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t unique in this regard. A March Santa Clara County Grand Jury report noted that
private-sector employees typically
contribute more than 50 percent of
the total cost toward their own pen-
Page 14Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
sions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 50 percent in the case of
Social Security and an even greater
share in the case of 401K plans. The
generous benefits offered by cities
are intended to counterbalance the
higher salaries in the private sector.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cities reported that they felt
compelled to enhance benefits to attract and retain the best work force
possible,â&#x20AC;? the Grand Jury wrote.
But benefits have been particularly generous in Palo Alto, where
the city has until recently footed the
entire bill for employee pensions, including the employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; share. The
city has also traditionally paid employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entire medical costs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a
perk thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generally unheard of in
the private sector. Only in the last
three years did it start asking workers to chip in â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a proposal that has
been particularly unpopular among
unions.
When it comes to pensions, veterans of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Police and Fire
departments have done especially
well. Former Police Chief Lynne
Johnson, who retired in late 2009
after making comments that many
interpreted as an endorsement of
racial profiling, led all local retirees with a pension of $201,953 in
fiscal year 2012, according to documents the Weekly obtained from
CalPERS through a Public Records
Act request. Former Fire Chief Nick
Marinaro, who retired in 2010 under
more amicable circumstances, drew
a pension of $166,157.
But high pension payments arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
restricted to police officers and
firefighters. The list of Palo Alto
retirees getting hefty pension payments include Richard James, former director of the Community
Services Department ($178,681),
and William Miks, former manager
of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water-quality control
plant ($176,067). Frank Benest, the
former city manager under whose
watch the city bumped up the pension formulas for its labor unions,
received $193,351, second only to
Johnson.
To be sure, most Palo Alto retirees make far less than that. Many
midlevel managers draw pensions
in the $65,000 to $70,000 range. A
retired arborist received a $55,718
pension in 2012, while a former
manager in the Community Services Department got $70,728.
But six-digit pension payments,
while uncommon, arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exactly
rare. The list of 954 Palo Alto retirees who received CalPERS funds
in 2012 includes 88 who received
pensions greater than $100,000
in 2012. The Santa Clara County
Grand Jury also noted in its report
on pensions that the average pension
for public-safety employees in Palo
Alto retiring between the ages of 51
and 54 with 30 years of service is
$108,000.
The pension problem is further
compounded by the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive
health care liability for retirees. According to the Grand Jury report,
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension liabilities totaled
$153.9 million and its health care
liabilities are $105 million â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for
a total of $259 million. Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
debt per resident was calculated at
$4,021, higher than in any other city
in the county (San Jose was a distant
second with $3,320).
T
he problem of benefit costs
isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t limited to Palo Alto or,
for that matter, to California.
Ever since the Great Recession hit,
states across the country have been
grappling with the fact that they can
no longer honor the promises they
made to their workers during better times.
A new study by the Pew Center
on States, which surveyed financial data from 2010, found 49 states
with liabilities in their pension
funds (Wisconsin is the lone exception). The problem was particularly
glaring in Illinois, Rhode Island,
Connecticut and Kentucky, where
pension plans were underfunded by
about 50 percent. California pension plans were 78 percent funded
in 2010, with a $112 billion funding
gap, Pew reported.
Many states have taken steps
to address this growing problem.
Twenty-three states have both increased employee contributions and
reduced benefits, a recent study by
the federal Government Accountability Office found.
Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension pains are
exacerbated by how CalPERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pension plans are structured. The fund
operates under a â&#x20AC;&#x153;defined benefitsâ&#x20AC;?
Veronica Weber
Veronica Weber
Robert Item, a utilities engineer,
told the council on June 25 that
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compensation benefits
draw workers to the city.
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debt per resident is highest in
Santa Clara County
Victor Farisato, a utilities
account representative and
chief steward of the Service
Employees International Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
local chapter, also addressed the
council in June.
Cover Story
What city will pay CalPERS on average per union member
Includes both employer portion and employee portion paid by city
$60,000
$56,221
$50,000
$45,104
$40,577
$40,000
$31,941
$34,860
$28,117
$30,000
$17,461
$20,000
$10,000
0
Mgt/
Professionals
Utilities
mgt/prof
Fire chief
association
Police
mgt
assn
Police
SEIU
assn
Employer share
Employee share paid by city
Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension expenses have grown
Costs have tripled in past decade
$25
$22.9
$20.8
$20
$18.2
$15.6
$15
29%
71%
$20.0 $19.5
$19.5
26%
74%
23%
77%
27%
73%
18%
82%
15%
85%
2009
2010
2011
$23.9
$23.1
14%
86%
13%
87%
2012
2013
41%
59%
$10
$6.9
$5
69%
31%
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Employer contribution
Employee portion paid by city
forms have been relatively modest.
The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new contract with the police union raises the retirement age
for collecting pensions by shifting
new employees from a â&#x20AC;&#x153;3 percent at
50â&#x20AC;? formula to â&#x20AC;&#x153;3 percent at 55.â&#x20AC;?
It also changes the way pensions are calculated. They used to
be based on a single year of highest salary; now theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re based on the
average of three consecutive years
with highest salaries. The reform
addresses the problem of pension
spiking, when an employee cashes
in on unused vacation and sick days
and pulls extra overtime in his final
year to increase his â&#x20AC;&#x153;highest salaryâ&#x20AC;? and bump up his pension payments.
The city is also now asking its
workers to fund the entire employee
share of the CalPERS contribution.
In the case of the police union â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
latest labor group to agree to a contract â&#x20AC;&#x201D; this comprises 9 percent of
the total pension contribution. Other
employee groups will soon be asked
likewise to pick up the full share of
employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CalPERS costs, Keene
said in a recent interview.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In our current negotiations with
the SEIU, one of our fundamental
components is having them pick up
that remaining 2.75 percent gap and
paying the full employee share,â&#x20AC;?
Keene said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be working with
the management-and-professionals
group to have them move in that direction, too.â&#x20AC;?
W
Source: City of Palo Alto. Fiscal year 2013 projection.
$ in millions
plan, which guarantees each participating employee a certain pension
sum, thereby forcing employers to
constantly revise their contributions
to CalPERS based on the pension
fundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s returns on investment, known
in industry parlance as â&#x20AC;&#x153;discount
rates.â&#x20AC;? The private sector, by contrast, uses the â&#x20AC;&#x153;defined contributionâ&#x20AC;? model under which payments
to the fund are constant but the pension amount ultimately depends on
investment performance.
Under this system, workers in Palo
Alto and elsewhere are guaranteed
their pension payments regardless of
CalPERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; investment performance.
The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contributions, which support the guaranteed payments, thus
ebb and flow with the economic
tides (lately, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been mostly flow).
The recent report by the Santa
Clara County Grand Jury urges
public agencies to switch from the
defined-benefit to the defined-contribution plans, in which â&#x20AC;&#x153;costs are
predictable and therefore more manageable by the cities.â&#x20AC;? Three states
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Georgia, Michigan and Utah
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have shifted since 2008 from
defined-benefit plans to â&#x20AC;&#x153;hybridâ&#x20AC;?
plans that â&#x20AC;&#x153;shift some investment
risk to new employees,â&#x20AC;? according
to the Government Accountability
Office report.
California Gov. Jerry Brown is
trying to take a similar approach.
His 12-point plan, which includes
such reforms as second pension tiers
for new employees and a 50-50 split
between employer and employee
contributions, also calls for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;hybridâ&#x20AC;? approach that includes both a
defined-benefit and a defined-contribution component.
Rising pension obligations have
already helped to push some cities to the brink of insolvency or, in
some cases, beyond. When Vallejo
declared bankruptcy in 2008, it had
a $195 million unfunded pension
obligation, the Grand Jury report
notes (the bankruptcy, from which
the Vallejo finally emerged in 2011,
allowed the city to renegotiate its
employee contracts and led to a reduction of pension and health care
benefits). Stockton embarked on
a similar path in late June when it
passed a budget with a $26 million
hole and became the largest city in
the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history to file for Chapter 9 protection. The Grand Jury
report notes that Stockton had less
than 70 cents set aside for every
dollar of pension benefits its worker
are owed. On July 10 the city of San
Bernardino, facing a $46 million
deficit, voted to seek bankruptcy
protection.
Other California cities have
pushed through aggressive pension
reforms in an effort to avoid similar
fates. In June, San Diego and San
Jose both passed major pension-reform measures with overwhelming
support from voters. The San Jose
measure gives city workers a choice
between accepting a less lucrative
pension plan and increasing their
pension contributions to 13 percent
(employee contributions currently
range from 5 to 11 percent). The
San Diego measure goes a step further and creates a 401K-like pension
system for new employees, with the
exception of police officers.
So far, Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension re-
hile state policies and economic trends have fueled
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension crisis,
some of the wounds have been selfinflicted. In 2001, the city increased
pension benefits for public safety
workers by 50 percent, effective
retroactively. Then came the 2007
agreement with SEIU, which resulted in a 35 percent lifetime benefit
increase for employees. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
newly passed budget points to these
â&#x20AC;&#x153;large retroactive benefit increasesâ&#x20AC;?
as a major reason for why â&#x20AC;&#x153;pension
costs have skyrocketed (and will
continue to grow).â&#x20AC;?
At the time, the city saw the increase in pension benefits as a reasonable exchange for a less generous health care plan. The average
monthly health care cost per employee had jumped from $734 in
2004 to $1,009 in 2008 (it is projected to be $1,230 in fiscal year
2013).
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The City is balancing its risk between medical and pension costs by
capping its medical premiums while
enhancing the pension plan,â&#x20AC;? thenHuman Resources Director Russ
Carlsen wrote in October 2006.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since CalPERS manages the pension fund (one of the largest funds
in the world) and has a 9.2 percent
rate of return over the last 10 years,
it is a more predictable expense versus extremely volatile health care
expenses, which the City has little
control over.â&#x20AC;?
Other cities made similar calculations and opted for â&#x20AC;&#x153;predictableâ&#x20AC;?
CalPERS returns. Carlsen noted in
his report that nine of the 11 benchmark cities Palo Alto had looked at
had similarly â&#x20AC;&#x153;improved or are in
the process of improving their re(continued on next page)
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 15
Cover Story
State investments take a bite
out of local budgets
!,0!)!.
0+
%(5
((%! .0/1%( !*(+.'
! 5(%)! 1
Lowered CalPERS projections cause cities to
scramble to meet pension obligations
$%/0)/0!.
!#51%*,+$!0$!.!0.!03%(("+1/+*
by Gennady Sheyner
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n the grand old days of the mid-2000s, few peo- investment in Page Mill Properties, a company that
ple talked about Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out-of-control pub- tried to buy more than half of East Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rentallic pensions.
housing stock but later lost it in foreclosure; and anThe stock market was flourishing, real estate was other $500 million in its investment in rental housing
soaring and CalPERS was regularly bringing in a in New York.
rate of return on investments of more than 9 perThe pension fundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;predictableâ&#x20AC;? income plummetcent. Stephen Levy, director and senior economist ed by $12.5 billion in fiscal year 2008 (which began
of the Center for Continuing Study of the California July 1, 2007) and by $57.4 billion the following year.
Economy, called this period of time a â&#x20AC;&#x153;roaring boom It rebounded in the 2010 and 2011 with increases of
in Silicon Valley.â&#x20AC;?
$25.6 billion and $43.6 billion. Still, the damage has
â&#x20AC;&#x153;California was in the middle of this incredible been done. In March, CalPERS officials decided to
boom,â&#x20AC;? Levy said in a recent interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was com- adjust the discount rate (that is, the expected rate of
ing off a period when the stock market had far ex- return) from 7.75 percent to 7.5 percent, a rate that
ceeded the rate of return that was being assumed.â&#x20AC;?
many view as still far too optimistic. This was the
In this period of excess, the decisions Palo Alto first time in 10 years that the pension fund changed
and other cities made to grant greater pension ben- the rate.
efits to employees seemed far from unreasonable,
The new discount rate means cities will now have to
particularly given the high salaries offered in Silicon contribute millions more annually to meet their penValleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thriving private sector.
sion obligations. Joe Nation, an
Back then, the citiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; contribuanalyst at the Stanford Institute
tions to CalPERS were minisfor Economic Policy Research,
cule compared to the current â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We underinvested. We
estimated in a December report
level because everyone assumed were assuming that the
(tellingly titled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pension Math:
the good times would keep on
How Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Retirement
rolling and the rates of return dot-com stock market
Spending Is Squeezing the State
would remain high, he said. In would keep going. It
Budgetâ&#x20AC;?) that each percentage2003, for example, the city paid was easy.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
point decrease in the CalPERS
only $2.3 million in pension
discount rate increases municiâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Stephen Levy, director and palitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; contribution rates by an
expenses, compared with $23.1
senior economist of the Center average of 10 percent. In Palo
million now. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s projected to balfor Continuing Study of the Alto, where benefits already take
loon further.
California Economy up a growing chunk of employee
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Part of the reason weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re behind is that everyone took a vaspending, the trend is expected
cation when the stock market
to extend well into the future.
was doing good,â&#x20AC;? Levy said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We underinvested. We
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even a quarter of percentage is a multi-millionwere assuming that the dot-com stock market would dollar cost impact on our annual pension requirekeep going. It was easy.â&#x20AC;?
ments,â&#x20AC;? City Manager James Keene said in a recent
The problem with this approach became appar- interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preliminary indication that
ent after the economy tanked in late 2008, sending the returns for this coming year will fall far, far short
CalPERS investments on a downward spiral. As the of that guideline (the 7.5 percent rate of return). This
stock market plummeted and the real-estate bubble means weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get hit with higher pension contribupopped, the pension fundsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; investments took a size- tions.â&#x20AC;? N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gennady Sheyner
able hit. The fund lost about $100 million in its failed
I
Pensions
(continued from previous page)
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Page 16Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Veronica Weber
To find out more or to make reservations for
our next social on July 22nd:
tirement formula beyond 2 percent
at 55 within the last several years.â&#x20AC;?
Since then, the pension problem
has added to what was already a
perfect storm of budget calamities
in Palo Alto. The Great Recession
took a bite out of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sales
and hotel taxes, major sources of
General Fund revenues. Health care
costs have been rising dramatically,
putting the squeeze on the budget
and forcing the city to cut workforce
by about 10 percent.
But while tax revenues this year
returned to their pre-recession levels, the twin problems of health
care and pension costs are only getting worse. At the May 7 meeting,
Scharff characterized the pension
problem as one the city needs to
own up to.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a calamity that happened to us. This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a natural disaster. This is something that we did
Lynne Krug, an inspector for the
utilities department and former
chair of Service Employees
International Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local
chapter, said some of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top
workers are retiring because of
benefit changes.
to ourselves and that the state did to
us, frankly,â&#x20AC;? he said.
Now, the city hopes to reverse the
trend. Last year, Scharff, Burt and
Holman spearheaded a measure to
eliminate the long-standing requirement of sending disputes between
the city and its public-safety unions
to binding arbitration. Measure D
easily passed last November, with
more than two-thirds of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
voters supporting it.
The move gives the city more
flexibility in labor negotiations and
allows it to impose benefit reductions on unions. And while the city
has already succeeded in wresting
some concessions from its workers, Keene and council members
have consistently maintained that
employees will have to make even
more sacrifices in the future.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We really have to make moves
to reduce our long-term liability in
this regard,â&#x20AC;? Keene said, referring to
pensions and other benefits. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What
that means is increasing employee
contributions to those costs. We
Cover Story
made our first moves in that area,
but I see in the OPEB (other postemployment benefits) area weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll
have to make continual changes in
the future.â&#x20AC;?
No one expects these discussions to be easy. Recent reforms
have taken a toll on employee morale and have prompted dozens of
veteran employees to retire. Keene
said the retirements are a testament
to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;generous pay and benefit packages that allowed people to
retire quite young in life.â&#x20AC;? He also
said the city has been successful
in attracting and recruiting â&#x20AC;&#x153;a new
generation of employees who are
excited about government.â&#x20AC;?
But not everyone sees the changes
as positive. SEIU workers told the
council June 25 that they are now
doing far more work for less pay relative to their counterparts in similar
cities. Lynne Krug, an inspector in
the Utilities Department and former
chair of SEIU, Local 521, said the
city is no longer retaining its top
workers because of it.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are really doing a lot more
work than we ever thought weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be
doing,â&#x20AC;? Krug said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhausting.â&#x20AC;?
Her colleagues concurred. The
loss of experienced workers, several
SEIU workers told the council, will
necessarily result in a lower quality
of services in Palo Alto.
Ratu Serumalani, a maintenance
worker in the Community Services
Department, said employees are
still feeling the pain from the concessions the city forced the union
to accept in 2009. City workers are
struggling to pay the bills, he said.
Many have retired, he said. During
this period of concessions, the city
lost â&#x20AC;&#x153;a lot of talent,â&#x20AC;? he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;There will come a time when
you will have no one here actually
training,â&#x20AC;? Serumalani said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
no succession plan. What you have
here is the very last of the very talented.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
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Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 17
A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
New Stanford Program Puts Pancreas
At Center of Comprehensive Care Team
Like tens of millions of Americans, Mitzi
Moynihan had occasional, sometimes
even frequent, unidentified problems with
her digestive system. She thought it was
probably acid reflux, caused by excess
stomach acid. And like those millions who
experience similar discomfort, Moynihan
would reach for an over the counter medication to quell the pain. That happened
a couple of times a day, and most of the
time, those medications worked.
The pancreasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; other elemental job is to make
insulin, that hormone
that controls the bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
use of its basic fuel,
glucose. Those two
functions put the pancreas at the heart of
the bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nutritional
After a thorough round of
image-based evaluations at
Stanford, Moynihanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gallbladder was found to have accumulated gallstones, which
had likely caused the acute
pancreatitis attack. The images also showed something
abnormal within her pancreas, possibly a small cyst,
which would be checked out
again after the surgery to
remove her gallbladder.
The Stanford Benign Pancreas Program
aims to shine a light on treatment for
a long-neglected set of illnesses that
arise in this often-overlooked but quite
important organ. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to give more
attention to these under-recognized pancreatic diseases,â&#x20AC;? said Visser. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pancreatic
cancers, relatively rare in incidence, have
had the bulk of the medical communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
focus. The benign far more common
pancreatic disorders have had far less.
Doctors learn less about them in medical
school, so patients donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always get the
care they deserve. These benign diseases
are certainly benign technically, meaning theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not cancerous, but that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
mean they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cause a lot of pain and
suffering.â&#x20AC;?
Gathering new knowledge
Even with a bit of extra knowledge, that
pain and suffering are easy to understand. The pancreas is just, by nature, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a
finicky little organ,â&#x20AC;? Visser said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It tends
to bite back when you poke at it. When
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re operating, as fast as youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying
to cobble it together, pancreatic juice is
working to get out through the seams.â&#x20AC;?
The gland can also clog, then the pancreas begins to digest itself, eventually leading to scarring, more pain and debilitated
function. In short, pancreatic surgery
is technically demanding and not to be
attempted without great caution and respect for its balanced risks or by those not
Moynihan is back to her normal routine now, which includes getting together
with friends to play cards. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smarter, too. More than 200,000 patients
each year learn what she didâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that the the pain they think comes from the
stomach is actually a problem with the pancreas.
Page 18Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
She recovered quickly from
that procedure. To get a
better look at her pancreas,
Moynihanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physicians ordered a test that extracted
fluid from the lesion theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d
spotted. The cells, lab analysis showed, confirmed that
Moynihanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pancreas had
Like tens of millions of Americans, Mitzi Moynihan had occasional,
been harboring a cystic
sometimes even frequent, unidentified problems with her digestive
tumor. The tumor was prosystem. She thought it was probably acid reflux, caused by excess
ducing a thick fluid, called
stomach acid. She would learn otherwise.
mucin, which was blocking
the pancreatic ducts, sending
the underlying biology, and that has led
the glandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s protein-dissolving enzymes to
to the diseases best being managed by a
work on the pancreas itself.
group of specialists who attack problems
from a variety of angles.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;These benign diseases are certainly
benign technically, meaning theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
not cancerous, but that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
mean they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cause a lot of pain
and suffering.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Brendan Visser, MD, surgical director,
Stanford Benign Pancreas Program
Norbert von der Groeben
More than 200,000 patients each year
learn what Moynihan didâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that the pain
they think comes from the stomach is
actually a problem with the pancreas, a
somewhat wrinkled, hot dog-sized gland
tucked behind the stomach, between the
kidneys. As crucial as the functions of
the pancreas are, however, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a part of
the body better known for the very lethal
cancer that can grow there. The stomach
may get the majority of popular attention,
erroneously getting both credit and blame
for digestion, but the pancreas is the true
workhorse of the digestive system. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The
stomach is just a storage organ that allows us to consume good-sized meals,â&#x20AC;?
said Brendan Visser, MD, surgical director of the new Stanford Benign Pancreas
Program. â&#x20AC;&#x153;After food
leaves the stomach and
reaches the first portion of the intestine,
the pancreas releases
enzymes that break
down food so we can
absorb its nutrients,â&#x20AC;?
he said.
well versed in the territory
and its challenges.
Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when Moynihan sat down for a
serious talk about her options with Visser, one of three pancreatic surgeons in
the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multidisciplinary team.
Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d heard great things about him from
a good friend whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been a patient of Visserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, but sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also heard that he often
recommended against surgery. That
track record reflects the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special approach. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pancreatic disorders have
traditionally been treated by the surgical
specialties because we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really had
any medications to offer,â&#x20AC;? said gastroenterologist Walter Park, MD, medical
director of the Stanford Benign Pancreas
program. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot has changed since then
in imaging, in biopsy, in our knowledge of
Norbert von der Groeben
Then came the afternoon when the pain
was overwhelming and Moynihan went to
the emergency room for help. The sensation was so intense she needed a heavy
dose of prescription painkillers to relieve
it. And it was not her stomach that was
the problem, she was told. It was her
pancreas, inflamed into a condition called
acute pancreatitis. Follow up with your
doctor, she was told.
chemistry; when things go wrong, the
pain can be intense and the damage long
lasting.
That new knowledge has changed the
surgery-first protocol to a comprehensive
examination of all aspects of a patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
condition in a way
that incorporates the
latest research and
emphasizes cooperative, coordinated care
directed by experts
in the field. This new
program, Visser said,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;is an attempt to
bring in patients with
these less understood
diseases for care in
one setting from a
variety of specialists
to attack the problem from a variety of
angles.â&#x20AC;?
Acute pancreatitis
is one form of pancreatic disease, with
severe attacks often
Moynihan did not want to
decided to have her pancre
used by Stanford surgeon B
days and soon back to her
special feature
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been quite exciting to be able
to bring together, to interact and
partner with, some very bright
individuals in their respective
specialties who each bring a unique
perspective to the disease.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Walter Park, MD, medical director,
Stanford Benign Pancreas Program
Diagnosis, and sometimes treatment, is
enhanced with newer technology carried
by endoscopes; the program has three experts in therapeutic endoscopy.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are still in the search for therapies
that can effectively treat the pain without
common side effects,â&#x20AC;? Park said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;as well
as trying to stop the process that initiates pancreatitis.â&#x20AC;? Last year, Stanford
launched the related, multidisciplinary
Gastrointestinal Pain Program, which
created an enhanced treatment pathway
for patients to see physician specialists in
pain and gastrointestinal disorders.
Another area of interest is developing
new tests that could predict if a particular benign cyst might turn malignant and
which patient with chronic pancreatitis
will develop more severe complications.
Visser also is one of a small handful of
surgeons in the U.S. skilled in laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical approach that avoids large, slow-to-heal
incisions. He chose the specialty in part
because of the challenge. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I was a
trainee,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the pancreas was the
jewel in the crown of surgery cases. Now,
after more than 200 pancreatic laparoscopies, Visser is still on high alert. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every
case is its own challenge and every case
has to as perfect as a human can make it.â&#x20AC;?
Focused collaboration
The new Benign Pancreas Program
represents a large-scale, comprehensive
union of experts for coordinated care of
patients with pancreatic disorders. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
a dream come true,â&#x20AC;? Park said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been
quite exciting to be able to bring together,
to interact and partner with, some very
bright individuals in their respective
specialties who each bring a unique perspective to the disease.â&#x20AC;? Stanford has
also built a large body of experience: it is
consistently among the top five medical
centers in California as measured by annual volume of pancreas operations. Each
year, its physicians care for more than
600 cases of acute pancreatitis and 250
cases of chronic pancreatitis.
Visser told Moynihan that her cyst was in
the tail of the pancreas, on the left side,
near the spleen. Deeper analysis of cells
in the cyst showed them as most certainly
pre-cancerous. She could have chosen
to wait, in that state called watchful observation, but did not want to live with
the anxiety that comes from wondering
when and if something has changed. She
wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eager for any uncertainty, or being tested once or twice a year, for years.
Even if diagnosed at its earliest stages,
pancreatic cancer is among the most
lethal forms of the disease. Moynihan
did not want to worry about what might
be going on between tests. And she had
complete confidence in Visser. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was very
comfortable with him, very impressed,â&#x20AC;?
she said.
The Benign Pancreas Programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team
represents almost 20 clinicians in gastroenterology, radiology, pain manage-
Norbert von der Groeben
worry about what might be going on between tests and
eatic tumor removed right away. The laparoscopic approach
Brendan Visser meant Moynihan was home in a couple of
docent tours at Filoli Gardens in Woodside.
Quick return to health
Visserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laparoscopic approach meant
Moynihan was home in a couple of days,
doing up and down her stairs on her first
day home. The lesion was gone and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d
A Pancreas Primer
Symptoms of a pancreas in trouble can include:
t abdominal pain that radiates to the back or chest
t nausea, vomiting, rapid pulse rate, fever
t unexplained weight loss
t jaundice
Tests to diagnose pancreatic conditions may include an abdominal
ultrasound, a computerized tomography (CT) scan, an endoscopic
ultrasound, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and
the measurement of amount and concentration of pancreatic juice.
Treatment may include therapeutic endoscopy procedures, advanced
surgical techniques, nutritional counseling, pain management and
participation in clinical research trials.
For more information about the Stanford Benign Pancreas Program,
phone 650.736.5555 or visit stanfordhospital.org/benignpancreas
Join us at http://stanfordhospital.org/socialmedia. Watch the new
Stanford Hospital Health Notes television show on Comcast: channel 28
on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. and Fridays at 8:30 a.m.;
channel 30 Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. It can also be viewed at
www.youtube.com/stanfordhospital.
had less internal alteration to a neighboring
organ: Traditionally,
because the blood vessels of the spleen are so
immediately adjacent
to the pancreas, physicians have removed
the spleen in such
surgeries, but when the
specific location of the
cyst and the patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
anatomy allow, Visser
leaves the spleen to
reduce trauma to the
body. He was able to do
that with Moynihan.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done really
well and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m
enjoying my life!â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mitzi Moynihan,
patient, Stanford Benign
Pancreas Program
Norbert von der Groeben
ment, nutrition, pathology, therapeutic
endoscopy and endocrinology. Each plays
an important role in care decisions, Park
said. Pain, for example, can be a cardinal
symptom of pancreatic conditions; the
endocrine system is also affected, sometimes altered enough to trigger diabetes.
Because the pancreas is so central to
how the body processes food, its disorders
often produce nutritional deficiencies.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to eat when you feel bad afterwards,â&#x20AC;? said Neha Shah, MPH, the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clinical nutritionist. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We help our
patients translate the science of nutrition
into practical food choices.â&#x20AC;?
caused by gallstones, as was the case
with Moynihan. Hospitalization is usually required. Most episodes are short,
Park said. Chronic pancreatitis, where
pain can be a constant and eating becomes frightening, can be long term, with
repeated bouts, said Visser.
As do many when they hear that a friend is having pancreatic problems, some
of Moynihanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends had been fearful for her. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been happy to prove their
fears unfounded. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done really well,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m enjoying my life!â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I never felt bad and had any pain after
the surgery,â&#x20AC;? she said, and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taken
back the regular rhythm of her life. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
a docent at the National Trust for Historic Preservationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Filoli Gardens in Woodside, leading energetic tours through its
expansive acres; she meets friends for
outings and bridge games; she also delights in being an active grandmother of
two little boys.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had no troubles at all with the
function of her pancreas,â&#x20AC;? Park said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The remaining pancreas has been fully
able to do its job, and she hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t missed
a beat.â&#x20AC;?
As do many when they hear that a friend
is having pancreatic problems, some of
Moynihanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends had been fearful for
her. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been happy to prove their fears
unfounded. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done really well,â&#x20AC;? she
said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m enjoying my life!â&#x20AC;?
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer treatment,
neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. It is currently ranked No. 17 on the U.S. News & World Reportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best Hospitalsâ&#x20AC;? list and
No. 1 in the San Jose Metropolitan area. Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally recognized
for translating medical breakthroughs into the care of patients. The Stanford University Medical
Center is comprised of three world renowned institutions: Stanford Hospital & Clinics, the Stanford
University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in the Western United States, and Lucile
Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital, an adjacent pediatric teaching hospital providing general acute and
tertiary care. For more information, visit http://stanfordhospital.org/.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 19
Jean Cheng Sao Koo
June 30, 1920 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 25, 2012
Resident of Palo Alto
Jean C.S. Koo passed away peacefully on June 25 in her home
in Palo Alto with her family at her side. Born in China, Jean
travelled to the United States for the ďŹ rst time in 1944 to study
at Rhode Island School of Design. She returned to Shanghai
to marry William Koo. As the Cultural Revolution swept over
China, William realized there would never be freedom and
opportunity for an education for their children, Peter, Paul,
John and Michele. He escaped China in 1957 in an attempt to
bring his entire family to freedom. Jean travelled alone with
her 4 young children out of the reaches of Communist China
to be reunited with William in 1961 in Hong Kong. In 1963,
Jean and William travelled with all four of their children to San
Francisco and established their home in Palo Alto.
Jean worked at the Stanford University Main Library, later
Green Library for over 30 years in the cataloguing department.
After her retirement, she was asked to return to aide in
digitalizing the cataloguing system.
Jean was born with a ďŹ&#x201A;are, elegance, and style that she
carried to the day she died. She touched everyone she met with
a profound tenderness and genuine love and all felt her warmth
and graciousness. She came to be simply known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Naâ&#x20AC;? not
only to her grandchildren but also to everyone in her life. She
loved traveling and spending time with her family.
She is survived by her 4 children: Peter Koo (Debbie), Paul
Koo (Darice), John Koo (Teresa Yang), Michele Koo (Rick
Lehman) & 9 grandchildren: Ryan Koo (Kendall), Jackie Koo,
Lauren Koo, Wesley Koo, Dani Koo, Spencer Koo, Cameron
Lehman, Alex Lehman, and Sydney Lehman. Services have been
held. Arrangements entrusted to Roller & Hapgood & Tinney
Funeral Home in Palo Alto, CA.
PA I D
OBITUARY
Pulse
A weekly compendium of vital statistics
POLICE CALLS
Palo Alto
June 28 - July 10
Violence related
Arson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Assault w/a deadly weapon . . . . . . . . . .1
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Dependent adult abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Strong-arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Embezzlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Vehicle related
Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . 19
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 15
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . 14
Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Alcohol or drug related
Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Liquor law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Open container. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Misc. drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Miscellaneous
Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Disturbing the peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Firearm disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Noise ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Possession of burglary tools. . . . . . . . . .1
Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Resisting arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 11
Suspicious circumstances/sex crime . . .1
Terrorist threats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Unattended death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Menlo Park
June 28 - July 10
Violence related
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Shot at occupied dwelling . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Vehicle related
Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . 12
Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .6
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .6
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Alcohol or drug related
Drug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Miscellaneous
Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Information case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Parole arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Probation violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Atherton
June 28 - July 10
Theft related
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle related
Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .2
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .1
Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Alcohol or drug related
Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Narcotics offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Miscellaneous
Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Citizen assist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Dumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Meet citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .3
Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Tree down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Wires down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
VIOLENT CRIMES
Palo Alto
William E. Armstrong
William E. Armstrong has passed away on June
29, 2012, in San Mateo County. Bill was born
to Col.John Dimmick Armstrong and Helen
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pollyâ&#x20AC;? Loveland Armstrong in Pennsylvania on
November 11, 1930.
Bill grew up in Palo Alto on Cowper Street,
and was a lifelong resident of the Bay Area. He
attended Jordan Jr. High, and graduated from
Palo Alto High in 1948. In high school he was
very active in sports. He graduated from UC
Berkeley, where he played inter-collegiate waterpolo.
After graduation, he served three years in the
United States Air Force where he earned his
pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wings.
After his military service, Bill and his family
returned to the Bay Area where he worked in the
electronics industry for a number of years, and
then worked in accounting. Bill coached his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Little League team in Palo Alto for many years.
Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life-long passion was Dixieland Jazz. He
played banjo in a number of Bay Area bands, and
was committed to bringing the joy of traditional
jazz to the younger generation. He founded the
Churchill Street Jazz Band at Palo Alto High
School in 1974, sharing his knowledge and
extensive music collection with students. The
Churchill Street Jazz Band introduced many
young musicians to Dixieland Jazz, some of whom
have gone on to play professionally. Thanks to
Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s untiring enthusiasm and musical taste, the
Churchill Street Jazz Band became a well-known
and respected Dixieland jazz band. The band
performed at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and
San Diego Jazz Festival, and many other festivals
and venues. Bill was voted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jazz Musician of the
Yearâ&#x20AC;? in 1996 by the Santa Rosa Jazz Society.
One of the highlights of Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s musical career was
performing
with
the legendary Turk
Murphy at Carnegie
Hall. Bill continued
to be active in music
throughout his life,
playing his banjo
well into his late seventies.
Bill, also known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Popsâ&#x20AC;? will be missed for
his generous heart, positive thinking and the
encouragement he gave to those around him.
He leaves behind many dear friends in the
music world and in San Mateo, where he was an
inspiration to many. Bill had a keen interest in
spiritual topics.
Bill was pre-deceased by his parents and by his
two older brothers John D. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jackâ&#x20AC;? Armstrong,
Jr. and Colonel John L. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Landyâ&#x20AC;? Armstrong
of Palo Alto. He is survived by his younger
brother, Robert A. Armstrong, and his wife Pat,
of Woodland, Ca. He is also survived by his
loving children, Lynne Kary, Brooke Armstrong,
Dana Armstrong, and their mother, his former
wife, Yvonne Armstrong. He leaves behind
grandchildren: Radharani, Krishna, Hansa,
Brad, Michelle, and Bryan, as well as numerous
nieces and nephews, and sister-in-law Kathy
Armstrong of Palo Alto. He is also survived by
his devoted long-time friend and companion,
Freddie Pemberthy of San Mateo.
Please do not send ďŹ&#x201A;owers, but donations to
your favorite charity would be appreciated. A
private family service is planned.
PA I D
Page 20Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
O B I T UA RY
Matched
CareGivers
Unlisted block East Meadow Drive, 6/28,
10 a.m.; suicide.
100 block El Camino Real, 6/30, 12:58
p.m.; battery.
Unlisted block Park Boulevard, 6/30, 9:08
p.m.; arson.
Unlisted block Mariposa Avenue, 6/30,
11:34 p.m.; domestic violence.
800 block El Camino Real, 7/1, 1:35 p.m.;
assault with a deadly weapon (car).
Unlisted block El Camino Real, 7/2, 10:04
p.m.; strong-arm robbery.
500 block El Camino Real, 7/3, 11:40 a.m.;
dependent adult abuse/neglect.
Unlisted block University Avenue, 7/4,
1:35 p.m.; battery.
Unlisted block Indian Drive, 7/6, 4:08 p.m.;
domestic violence/battery.
Unlisted block Indian Drive, 7/6, 5:25 p.m.;
domestic violence/battery.
Unlisted block Williams Street, 7/8, 7:26
a.m.; child abuse/neglect.
1800 block Park Boulevard, 7/8, 3:27
p.m.; battery.
0 block Embarcadero Road, 7/9, 6:23
p.m.; battery.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no place
like home.â&#x20AC;?
When you, or someone
you care about,
needs assistance...
you can count on us
to be there.
We provide Peninsula
families with top,
professional caregivers.
Call now
(650) 839-2273
www.matchedcaregivers.com
Sept. 28
5K walk, 5K & 10K run
Register online
at PaloAltoOnline.com/
moonlight_run
Transitions
Michael Steven Coffron
Michael Steven Coffron, who
grew up in Palo Alto, died in his
Chico home June 27 after a long
struggle with pancreatic cancer. He
was 65.
He was born to Al and Julie Coffron in Tulsa, Okla. He grew up
in Palo Alto with three brothers,
graduated from Cubberley High
School, served four years in the
U.S. Marine Corps, and graduated
from the University of California
Santa Cruz.
He lived in the Chico area for the
past 24 years. He worked for Child
Protective Services in Butte County
and Tehama County for 18 years.
Following his passion for construction he pursued real estate development.
He enjoyed traveling, good food,
museums, theater, classic movies
and books, and spending time with
his family and friends.
He is survived by his wife of 21
years, Karen Coffron of Chico; his
mother, Julie Coffron of Chico;
his brothers, Jim Coffron (Katty)
of Atascadero and Wayne Coffron
(Marilyn) of Linden, Va.; uncle,
Bill Coffron (Ritva) of Colorado;
his children, Tammy Coffron
Nurisso (Fred) of Redwood City,
Brock Coffron (Lynn) of Stevensville, Mont., Beau Coffron (Linnea) of Fremont, Rob Coffron of
Petaluma, Daniel and Alex Coffron of Chico. He is also survived
by grandchildren, Matthew, Ariana
and Bradley Nurisso, Colby and
Chase Coffron, Abigail and Zachary Coffron, and numerous nieces
and nephews. His father, Al Coffron, and brother, John Coffron,
predeceased him.
A memorial service will be held
July 15 at 3 p.m. at the Bidwell Presbyterian Church, Chico.
Heinz Furthmayr
Heinz Furthmayr, an emeritus
professor of pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine,
died of a heart attack May 1 while
on a trek in Nepal, two days before
his 71st birthday.
His early work examined the basic chemical and biological properties of cell membranes and interstitial tissues and their relationship
to medical problems, which more
recently included Marfan syndrome
and other microfibrillar disorders.
He published more than 120 scientific articles. He was elected to
membership in the Pluto Club, an
organization of experimental pathologists working at universities in
the United States.
He often collaborated with Uta
Francke, professor emeritus of genetics and pediatrics and his wife of
25 years.
He was a pilot, as is his wife,
and the two of them traveled the
world. They went on safari in Africa, learned Spanish in Central
and South America, and watched
penguins being born in Antarctica.
He also ventured on his own, taking
overland trips through Europe and
Asia and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro twice.
He was born in Linz, Austria, in
1941 and grew up in the nearby village of Ansfelden. His father was a
baker who owned his own bakery
and his mother had a general store
in the village. He earned his doctorate at the University of Vienna
Medical School. He completed his
clinical pathology internship at
Hanusch Hospital in Vienna and his
medical residency at the Hospital of
Mistelbach, Austria.
He came to the United States in
1972 as a postdoctoral scholar studying red-cell membranes in the lab at
Yale School of Medicine, becoming
a faculty member in the Department
of Pathology there in 1976.
He and his wife met in Colorado
over mutual interests in science and
skiing. They married in 1986 near
the top of Mount Tamalpais. His
appointment at Stanford began in
1989. He retired in 2005, and had
since spent five months a year traveling.
He is survived by his wife,
Francke, of Los Altos Hills, Calif.; three sisters, four brothers, his
mother, and numerous nieces and
nephews, all in Austria or Germany, as well as his two godchildren
in Palo Alto.
Jeannie Pasturel
Jeannie Heidel Pasturel, daughter
of Agnes Waters of Palo Alto, died
at her home in Oregon on April 21
after a battle with breast cancer. She
was 49.
She was surrounded by her husband of 25 years, Patrice Knut, her
daughters, Gabrielle Rose and Caitlin Heather, and Patriceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents,
Marc and Ragni Pasturel.
She grew up in Palo Alto, graduating from Palo Alto High School
in 1981. Her love of animals, especially horses, led to a degree in
animal science equine husbandry
from California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona, in 1986.
She and her husband met during
their junior year in high school and
were married in 1987. They moved
to Oregon two years later to buy a
farm where she could breed, train,
show and care for horses.
She trained or bred the champion
or reserve-champion Friesian mare
six consecutive years. An advocate
for horse health and the protection
of U.S. horses against a communicable breeding disease, she established one of the first USDA approved quarantine facilities on the
West Coast.
To advance research for a cure,
contributions in her honor may be
made to Hope Rugo, M.D., UCSF,
Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, 1600 Divisidero
St., 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA
94115.
Support Local Business
Lora Fichou
July 4, 1933 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; July 5, 2012
With family close by her side, Lora Louise
Fichou passed away and moved onward on July
5 at the age of 79. Born July 4, 1933, in Chicago, Lora moved to Menlo Park at the age of 10
with her parents, Fern and Eduardo Colombo,
where she lived most of her life. She attended
Castilleja School and then graduated from Sequoia High School in 1951.
She married Jean Jacques Fichou in Morocco in 1952 and lived there brief ly before
moving to France for several years. She is
the mother of five children. For many years,
Lora worked as a clerk at Village Stationers
in Menlo Park, where she became a familiar face to many townspeople. She was also
a well-liked assistant at Little House and
Rosener House in Menlo Park. Lora was an
especially intuitive individual who provided
keen insights and valuable counsel to her
friends. She had a special affinity to animals,
especially the beloved dogs and cats she kept
as pets over the
years. Her family
lineage has been
traced directly
to the famed explorer Christopher Columbus.
Lora is survived by her ďŹ ve
children, Jean-Yves Fichou, Marc Michel
Fichou, Charles Dominique Fichou, Yannette
Fichou Edwards, and David Lynn Fichou, as
well as seven grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at Trinity
Episcopal Church in Menlo Park on Tuesday,
July 24th at 5 p.m. A reception will follow
the service; details will be provided at a later
date. The family requests that in lieu of f lowers, donations be made in Loraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name to Pets
In Need (http://www.petsinneed.org/).
PA I D
OBITUARY
Betty Vandenberg
Elisabeth
Muldown
Vandenberg
(â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bettyâ&#x20AC;?), 80, a resident of Palo Alto
for 44 years, died July 4 after a year-long
struggle with head and neck cancer. She
was in hospice care and surrounded by her
family at the time of her death.
She was born in 1931 in Rochester, Minn.,
to Benjamin and Dorothy Diepenbrock
Muldown. She grew up in Albert Lea, Minn.
and attended Vassar College (â&#x20AC;&#x2122;53), receiving
degrees in Russian and Economics. In 1952,
she married Lt. William Vandenberg, USACE,
and joined him in Leipheim, Germany, later
returning to Europe for additional tours
in Karlsruhe, Germany and Livorno, Italy,
before settling in Palo Alto, California to
raise their four children.
From an early age she sought to widen
her sphere from her small-town Midwestern
upbringing and embraced cosmopolitan
places, issues, and concerns. Always a good
cook, she discovered real culinary artistry
during her years in Italy and embraced the
sentiment that â&#x20AC;&#x153;an appetite for life makes a
good cook.â&#x20AC;? An avid reader, lifelong learner,
student of the arts, and home designer, she
actively supported modern design and smart
growth urban planning.
Interested in furniture and fabric, she be-
longed to a community of furniture upholsterers
in Palo Alto. A
longtime democrat, she supported
many
worthwhile causes
including the San
Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Planned Parenthood, the
San Francisco Aids Foundation, Project Open
Hand, and the Second Harvest Food Bank.
She is survived by her sister Catherine
Muldown of SpringďŹ eld, Ill.; her children
Lisa Vandenberg of Berkeley, Calif., Susan
Benjamin of Sunnyvale, Calif., Stewart
Vandenberg of Geyserville, Calif., and
Ann Vandenberg of Atlanta, Georgia; her
grandchildren James Benjamin, Sarah
Benjamin, and Nathaniel Vandenberg;
her Muldown cousins and the extended
Vandenberg family.
A private memorial service will be held
at the family home. For more information
please call 650-387-2847. The family requests
that donations be made in Bettyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honor to
Project Open Hand, (415) 447-2419, http://
www.openhand.org.
PA I D
OBITUARY
Visit
Lasting Memories
An online directory of obituaries and remembrances.
Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo.
Go to: www.PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries
Give blood for life!
bloodcenter.stanford.edu
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 21
Editorial
Medicine doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t offset
poison of HSR bill
While Caltrain and the Peninsula come out
as winners from high-speed-rail vote,
state still canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
I
n a political drama that has potentially massive financial ramifications for California, last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s razor-close vote to move forward
with high-speed rail will keep the uncertain project alive but give
the Peninsula the benefit of Caltrain electrification.
The two different visions were dramatically on display last week
when the Peninsulaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three Democratic legislators split their votes,
with Assemblymen Rich Gordon and Jerry Hill supporting Governor
Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal based on the good they saw in it for their constituents
and Senator Joe Simitian opposing it because of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial
predicament.
Simitian, who has often said he is a supporter of high-speed rail done
right, shocked his colleagues when he announced on the floor of the
Senate that he could not bring himself to vote â&#x20AC;&#x153;ayeâ&#x20AC;? on the bill.
As one of the three senators on the high-speed-rail committee, Simitian had worked hard with local, state and federal officials to negotiate
improvements to the plan and find a way to move forward that addressed both local objections and the flaws and uncertainties of the
business plan. But in the end, Simitian (and his two colleagues on the
HSR committee) decided the risks and uncertainties of the overall
project were just too great.
Gordon and Hill enthusiastically supported the bill, saying the Peninsula got virtually everything it wanted and had been fighting for,
including no high-speed rail between San Francisco and San Jose.
Gordon said the vote does not constitute a commitment to build the
entire project, only the Madera to Bakersfield segment in the Central
Valley, which he said would bring valuable improvements to the current
Amtrak line even if high-speed rail doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t materialize.
Perhaps the biggest prize for Hill and Gordon was the Caltrain electrification, a long overdue project that will increase the number of
stops possible in a one-hour trip from San Jose to San Francisco, and
could push ridership to 70,000 a day. And the bill protects the blended,
two-track system on the Peninsula, meaning that there will no eminent
domain taking of property or encroachment onto Alma Street to make
way for trains.
Simitian said he is convinced that without the promise of more federal or private funding down the road, the state could be left to foot the
bill for nearly the entire project.
By passing the legislation before a deadline imposed by the federal
government, the project will receive $3.3 billion in federal funds and
$2.3 billion in state funds to build the 130 miles of conventional (not
electric) passenger train tracks in the Central Valley. The bill also provides or frees up some $1 billion each for local projects in Northern
and Southern California.
Unlike Simitian, three key reasons convinced Gordon and Hill to
support the bill:
s ! GUARANTEE FROM THE RAIL AUTHORITY THAT IT WOULD BUILD ONLY A TWO
track, rather than four-track, system on the Peninsula. Hill said the
stipulation means that there will be no land taken beyond the Caltrain
right of way, including earlier projections that tracks might infringe on
some homes and portions of Alma Street.
s MILLION FOR #ALTRAIN ELECTRIFICATION
A GOAL THE COMMUTER TRAIN
service has had for years. Electric trains, in addition to eliminating the
noise and pollution of diesel engines, can travel faster and stop more
often for passengers and still make the San Jose to San Francisco run
in one hour or less.
s 2AIL IMPROVEMENTS ON THE 0ENINSULA THAT COULD STAND ON THEIR OWN
even if the full project is never completed.
Simitianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerns are both immediate and long-term. He fears that
Governor Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ballot initiative to raise income taxes on wealthy
Californians and impose a small sales tax might not pass in November
due to a backlash from voters angry that the Legislature passed the
high-speed-rail project. And he still sees trouble in the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business plans and has doubts about the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership, which
has several major vacancies and a CEO who has been on the job less
than a month.
While some are quick to attribute the votes of all three local legislators to politics, we think all three voted for reasons they found sound,
compelling and practical. Gordon and Hill see a unique opportunity to
obtain a lot of money that will benefit the Peninsula, and argue if the
rest of high-speed-rail doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pan out, our region is still a winner. They
may be right. Simitian says he hopes he is wrong, but canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t support setting in motion a plan that has so many financial risks and uncertainties,
even if his district will benefit.
Simitianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reasoning is the more principled in the broader context of
how taxpayer money should be prioritized and spent, and we share his
worry that in a state with a continuing budget crisis, high-speed rail
should not take precedent over other needs.
And now that the bill has passed, like Simitian, we hope to be proven
wrong.
Page 22Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Spectrum
Editorials, letters and opinions
Rethink Stanford trails
Editor,
James Sweeney has re-educated
us on the background of the Stanford trails. Apparently they were
not intended to mitigate the impacts of the GUP development in
the form of increased traffic where
those impacts were focused: at the
periphery of the campus. Instead,
the provision was crafted to mitigate the loss of recreational opportunities in center-campus and
intended solely to benefit Stanford
residents and â&#x20AC;&#x153;frequent usersâ&#x20AC;?
(whatever â&#x20AC;&#x153;frequentâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;useâ&#x20AC;?
mean).
Mr. Sweeney says â&#x20AC;&#x153;gotchaâ&#x20AC;? very
nicely, but I must differ with his
implication that the Matadero
Creek Trail is an example of compliance with the GUP requirement
to provide â&#x20AC;&#x153;opportunities that
campus residents and facility users will reasonably and frequently
use for their recreation.â&#x20AC;? Anyone
familiar with the Matadero Creek
Trail, or the â&#x20AC;&#x153;S1â&#x20AC;? (a more descriptive label) knows it is functionally
non-compliant with that provision. The proximal section, the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;multipurpose trail,â&#x20AC;? is a 30-footwide roadway running parallel to
Page Mill Road. Bicyclists might
ride this section, were there not a
much nicer bike route, Old Page
Mill Road, only 100 yards to the
north. For hikers, it is simply an
unpleasant place to walk â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so no
one does.
Mr. Sweeney avers to a trail
proposal to come from the Stanford Residential Leaseholders,
which will be â&#x20AC;&#x153;continuous from El
Camino to the S1.â&#x20AC;? Unfortunately,
no such plan can rest on the value
of connecting to the S1. Moreover,
the leaseholds â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to the credit of
their designers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are crisscrossed
by a network of trails far more
pleasant than the S1.
Would that network be used by
more leaseholders, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;frequent usersâ&#x20AC;? of Stanford campus, or anyone
else, if another $10.3 million were
spent on it? Unlikely. Would some
Stanford community members
take advantage of a bridge over 101
near Shoreline to bike-commute to
Google? In this latter project, at
least, would be some measure of
genuine benefit.
Steve Woodward
Stanford Avenue
Palo Alto
Vote Lieber
Editor,
Even though a strong educational
system is possibly the most integral factor to any thriving society
and economy, the funding for Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s school systems has only
been plummeting. As a concerned
student, I want a state senator who
prioritizes funding for education
and seeks to reform the overall
budget to ensure that further cuts
in education are halted.
State Senate candidate Sally Lieberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus on stronger laws to protect funding for education and her
determination to reform the budget
as a whole is a clear step toward
progress. Her push for absolute
budget transparency and greater
oversight on state agencies is a
huge stride toward protecting funding for education and making sure
schools have enough resources to
reach their full potential. Anyone
who wants a candidate dedicated
to education reform and greater
transparency should cast their vote
for Sally Lieber for State Senate
District 13.
Pooja Thapar
Bryant Street
Palo Alto
Preserve Cal Ave
Editor,
The California Avenue shopping
center off east El Camino is really
the last of Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major shopping centers and should be left as
it is.
Stanford Shopping was created
to draw from a wide regional area.
Downtown Palo Alto has â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with
the growth in the city and region
itself â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also been turned into a
regional shopping center and not
essentially a shopping center for
local residents.
Over the years, people in Palo
Alto have turned both to smaller
neighborhood shopping, like those
along Middlefield Road, and increasingly to California Avenue at
El Camino in their effort to retain
the Palo Alto community shopping
and small restaurant ambiance.
It is hard to imagine that our city
staff, many of whom do not live in
the community, would understand
the particular importance of retaining California Avenue for the
community as it is. With its broad,
wide street and tree-lined sidewalks, California Avenue is very
much like the small-town California communities of the past and is
much more like the Palo Alto people who have lived here for some
time are familiar with and enjoy.
Leave it alone. It really doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
need any special attention.
Marvin and Alison Lee
Harker Avenue
Palo Alto
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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On Deadline
Pete McCloskey charges from retirement to battle secret political funding
by Jay Thorwaldson
t is said that Pete McCloskey has trouble resisting a good fight
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially if the
odds are stacked high
against him.
So as headlines
mount about the millions upon millions of
dollars going into secretive â&#x20AC;&#x153;Super PACsâ&#x20AC;?
and organizations
that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to list
their donors, former
Congressman Paul N.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peteâ&#x20AC;? McCloskey has emerged from his retirement on Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North Coast to lead
a charge against the hidden money of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
politics.
He was joined in late June by former state
Assemblywoman Sally Lieber and current Assemblyman Jerry Hill at the Portola Valley
home of Walter and Ruth Anne Bortz â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
by about 120 Midpeninsula residents, most capable of providing financial support for a transparency campaign.
There are two fronts to the effort: California
and nationally, both known as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Disclose
Act.â&#x20AC;? The federal bill is officially the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light
on Spending in Elections Actâ&#x20AC;? (H.R.5175 and
S.3628). The state AB 1648 is simply the â&#x20AC;&#x153;California Clean Money Campaign.â&#x20AC;?
The immediate focus is California.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;All eyes are really on California, because if
we cannot do it here we should not expect that
we can do it in Washington, D.C., where it is so
much harder,â&#x20AC;? Lieber said at the gathering.
She reminisced about driving into Sacramento to the Assembly via an old iron drawbridge
because the route â&#x20AC;&#x153;takes you down Capitol
I
Mall straight at our state capital. And on Monday mornings it would look like a pristine,
beautiful vision in white, like a white wedding
cake that was just waiting to have a slice cut
out of it. And I really felt the world of possibilities and that the best things about politics
were possible.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;And by about 11:30 or so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d see the
masses coming toward the capital. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d see
the real impact of more than $500,000 a day in
lobbying in Sacramento. It was hard not to start
to lose a little bit of hope.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;But there are great and noble things that can
be done by government. And something that
we must have to be able to do those things is the
clarity and transparency about who is spending
money in politics. And the Disclose Act is the
premier piece of legislation,â&#x20AC;? to do that.
But Hill cautioned that the odds are high
against passage of the California legislation
this year.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Last year I was very optimistic, very optimistic, when we came so close to getting it
passed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so close to getting a couple of votes
that we needed,â&#x20AC;? he told the group, speaking as
co-author of the bill.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not quite as optimistic. And
the bill has changed and evolved.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;So we have a fight on our hands. There are
interests coming in from a lot of different places right now. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crucial that we do this, the
transparency thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s necessary.â&#x20AC;?
Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a broader issue:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting attacked at every level. The
middle class in this country is being destroyed
... because of the interests that are fighting us,â&#x20AC;?
Hill said.
He provided a glimpse at the inner workings
of the Legislature, relating to the close vote in
2011.
To get the two-thirds, two Republican votes
were needed. Some Republican members wrote
a letter suggesting changes.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I went and sat and talked with a couple
of the members on the other side of the aisle
who had written the letter. And I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;OK, if
we were to take these amendments, if we were
to do this would you then agree to it?â&#x20AC;?
Hill said the response was: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well, no. This
is a good start. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re right there. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re almost
there.â&#x20AC;?
He said he concluded that â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have to go
another way because they will never close the
deal.â&#x20AC;?
Two votes short, the legislation moved to
2012.
McCloskey, 84, is an ex-Marine awarded
both a Silver Star and Purple Heart plus a Navy
Cross from earlier U.S. Navy service. A moderate Republican, he served in Congress from
December 1967 to January 1983. He cited past
political battles, including his abortive challenge to then-President Richard Nixon over the
Vietnam War. His book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Truth and Untruth:
Political Deceit in America,â&#x20AC;? infuriated conservatives.
He also recalled his primary-election challenge to former Assemblyman Richard Pombo,
in a conservative Sierra Foothills district. In a
Sunday-morning phone interview, McCloskey
told me he knew he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t win in the Republican primary but if he did well enough to show
Pombo was vulnerable the Democrats would
be heartened and put forth a candidate strong
enough to win the general election â&#x20AC;&#x201D; precisely
what happened.
But he switched parties in 2007, citing a disgust with the dominant Republican leadership
of today. The feeling is mutual, dating back
decades.
McCloskey said an example of big bucks influencing campaigns was in New Hampshire,
where Annie McLane Kuster challenged a sixterm incumbent and came within 1 percent of
winning â&#x20AC;&#x201D; despite a $100,000 contribution to
her opponent from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. McCloskey characterized the overall
issue as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a test between good and evil.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;If that happens all over the country, big
money comes in, and with a hundred seats in
the house up in any given year you can imagine
what a million dollars (could do) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if the Koch
brothers decided to throw in a million dollars
against Annie McLane, can she win?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;So what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re up against ... is making it
plain that some people are getting all of their
money from corporate sources and others are
getting it from individuals.â&#x20AC;?
McCloskeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife and fellow crusader, Helen
Hooper, added a footnote to his remarks.
She said her grandfather told her that any
business arrangement between friends should
be formalized in a written agreement to prevent
friendship from being tainted by vagaries of
time and circumstance, and because â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anybody
whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honest would not object to putting their
name on a document they agreed to.â&#x20AC;?
She said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thought about that in terms of
this clean money campaign â&#x20AC;&#x153;because thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
such a disingenuous aspect to whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on
in politics in this country and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re moving so
quickly to being a Third World nation on so
many fronts.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;And the almost ruthlessness with which
this is all happening really demands that we
fight back. And I think that this (state) bill and
this effort and initiatives like this are THE key
thing to support.â&#x20AC;? N
Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson
can be emailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.
com with a copy to jaythor@well.com. He
also writes biweekly blogs at www.PaloAltoOnline.com (below Town Square).
Streetwise
What do you think about the passing of the bill authorizing the funding of the California high-speed-rail
system? Asked on California Avenue and Birch Street in Palo Alto. Interviews and photos by Lauren-Marie Sliter.
Elisabeth Stitt
Teacher
Woodleaf Way, Mountain View
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m curious that Joe Simitian withdrew
his support ... but I trust his skepticism.â&#x20AC;?
Jayant Kulkarin
Founder of Quartzy
Cowper Street, Palo Alto
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m supportive. I think we should
invest in infrastructure for the long
term.â&#x20AC;?
Katherine Glazier
Floral designer
Tasso Street, Palo Alto
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too expensive. ... It sounded good at first, but once you look at
the finances, we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford it.â&#x20AC;?
Eero Tunkelo
Recent graduate
Embarcadero Road
â&#x20AC;&#x153;From what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard it seems alright.
... Public transit is a good idea to me.â&#x20AC;?
Lalitha Acharya
Graduate student
Kendal Street
â&#x20AC;?I always think public transit is a good
idea. ... Hopefully it will be a cheaper
alternative to flying.â&#x20AC;?
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 23
Arts & Entertainment
Veronica Weber
A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
Botanical
curiosity
Pria Graves, one of the many artists taking part in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art in the Gardenâ&#x20AC;? at Gamble Garden this year, sits in her Palo Alto
yard where she grows many antique and heirloom plants.
Watercolor botanical-art images by Pria Graves are,
from top, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sherwoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Peach Dahliaâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seckel
Pears.â&#x20AC;?
by Maytal Mark
ria Graves likes antiques. Not just stoves and
houses â&#x20AC;&#x201D; her home dates back to 1904 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
but antique plants, too. In her prolific Palo
Alto garden, there are several species of plants
dating back to the 1700s and the Middle Ages.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been around unusual plants always,â&#x20AC;?
Graves says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My mother was a keen gardener
when I was a kid and she was always looking for
unusual things, so I probably got it from her.â&#x20AC;?
Bursting with greenery, the garden includes
more than 20 types of dahlias; vegetables from
snow peas to potatoes; and several trees providing
shade over small walkways.
Graves has been studying and practicing botanical art since the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s. Known for its detailed depictions of flowers and plants, botanical art will be
featured as one of the genres in Gamble Gardenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art in the Gardenâ&#x20AC;? exhibition on July 20 and 21.
On the 21st, Graves and other local artists will
paint in real time for visitors and sell their work
to benefit the garden.
The event is in its second year of showing and
selling paints and pastels. Botanical art is new this
year, in part because the new garden co-president,
Judy Paris, is a botanical artist and has connections with the community, event organizer Shirley
Finfrock said.
Graves says sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s excited to participate. For the
paint-out, she plans to bring a small painting of
P
a dahlia with petals already started. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If it gets
screwed up it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a huge loss.â&#x20AC;?
This makes sense, as the detail required for
Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; paintings means they often take several
weeks or months to complete. This can explain
her unusual subject choices.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to spend a month staring at a
piece of paper with a painting on it, you want to
be inspired by it,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been a
plantaholic, but I started collecting weird stuff because of being a botanical artist.â&#x20AC;? Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time in
Australia also inspired her love of odd plants.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Traveling in Australia as a child and seeing
things that just couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be grown here â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of weird plants in Australia â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that
gave me a taste for it.â&#x20AC;?
In preparation for an upcoming New York
exhibition titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weird, Wild and Wonderful,â&#x20AC;?
Graves has grown several oddball plants. The
first is strawberry spinach, used by monks in the
Middle Ages as a food source. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It has spinach-like
leaves, but it grows these berry-like structures on
the stock,â&#x20AC;? Graves says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very bizarre.â&#x20AC;?
Another interesting specimen is the caterpillar
plant, with curly, hairy seed pods that resemble the
namesake insect. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People used to put them in salads in the 1700s to freak people out,â&#x20AC;? Graves says.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;They thought a caterpillar was in their salad, but
itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not toxic to eat.â&#x20AC;?
Before she became a botanical artist, Graves
Page 24Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Local artist inspired by horticultural
oddities and antiques
Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Violette
Artichoke.â&#x20AC;?
was studying garden design when one of her teachers
commented that she was drawing plants, not landscapes. Graves read up on botanical art and took
classes in Point Reyes and Filoli in between working
as a software engineer, a career from which she is
now retired.
At the beginning of her art studies, Graves was set
on using colored pencil, whereas most botanical artists stress the use of watercolor.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;With watercolor it felt like I had gone back to kindergarten,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much less easily controlled.â&#x20AC;?
Today she is thankful for her transition to watercolors
due to her carpal tunnel syndrome.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Using a brush is much less stressful on my hand
than using a pencil,â&#x20AC;? Graves says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m now
painting four or five hours a day, not doing a lot of
pressure is a really wise thing.â&#x20AC;?
Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; artistic detail is grounded in her depth of
knowledge in botany. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have a fair bit of botany and
horticulture background. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very interested in knowing how the plants are put together.â&#x20AC;?
This detail has served Graves well in various competitions.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In theory, a scientist could look at your botanical
painting and determine exactly what species it is,â&#x20AC;?
Graves says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the things you will lose points
for is if the way leaves or flowers attach to the stem is
not done correctly.â&#x20AC;?
The care required for botanical art extends to the
planning process of what to paint and how. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have
to start the paintings when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re growing and flowering, so thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot more going on in the summer
than in the winter,â&#x20AC;? Graves says.
A 27-year resident of Palo Alto, Graves has become involved in the community, and even ran for
city council in 2001.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably just as well that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get elected,â&#x20AC;?
she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I enjoy being out in public and meeting
people but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to do it 24 hours a day. I still
enjoy being well known around Palo Alto. It gives it
a small-town feel.â&#x20AC;?
Graves sells some of her artwork as prints and cards,
and on rare occasions the original art itself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It keeps
me in paint,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It helps pay for the shipping
of stuff to shows. Basically, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really make money
at it; it kind of helps be self-sustaining.â&#x20AC;?
Ironically, Graves didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe she could do art
when she was younger. While she was attending high
school in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;60s, the art scene never quite sat well
with her.
Pria Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crimson
Flowered Fava
Bean.â&#x20AC;?
Return engagement
Acclaimed singers and spouses are back on the
Music@Menlo stage this summer
A
s Music@Menlo marks its
10th anniversary this summer, the chamber-music
festival continues to draw acclaim
and audiences. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also getting big
encores: noted musicians who are
becoming regulars.
One set of singers comes as a
couple. Mezzo-soprano Sasha
Cooke will return for her third
Music@Menlo, with her husband,
baritone Kelly Markgraf, back for
the second time.
Based in Chicago, the young
vocalists are very accustomed
to playing the East Coast. Cooke
earned particular praise for her
performance as Kitty Oppenheimer in the Metropolitan Opera
premiere of John Adamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Doctor
Atomicâ&#x20AC;? in 2008, while Markgrafâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rĂŠsumĂŠ includes singing the
role of Allazim in Luciano Berioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
reconstruction of the unfinished
Mozart opera â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zaideâ&#x20AC;? at Carnegie
Hall last year.
Still, both said theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking
forward to being back on the Peninsula, where both audiences and
fellow musicians are welcoming.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It truly feels like a family,â&#x20AC;?
Markgraf said of Music@Menlo
in a phone interview last week.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always attending
each othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; concerts and thrilled
to hear the music. ... So often, especially on the East Coast, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a
very demanding, critical kind of
environment.â&#x20AC;?
Cooke said she sees festival
founders and artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who
are also a married couple â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as
inspirations. She loves teaching
and coaching singers, and said she
could see herself starting a festival
one day.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always intense at Menlo. ...
You want to absorb it all. You want
to go to all the talks, be at all the
performances,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We go
and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sort of lifted up, and we
have the energy to last us the rest
of the year.â&#x20AC;?
Rikki Cooke
by Rebecca Wallace
Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke.
This summer, Cooke and Markgraf will again combine their energies on stage. In one of the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Carte Blancheâ&#x20AC;? concerts,
they will present a recital with
pianist Gilbert Kalish, singing a
program they chose together.
They will also sing in one of the
main concerts, a July 27 program
called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Transportedâ&#x20AC;? that aims to
convey listeners to other worlds
through music. Markgraf will sing
Samuel Barberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dover Beach,â&#x20AC;? a
look at the natural world and hu-
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art was all large, abstract stuff, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not me,â&#x20AC;?
she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because of what was going on around me, I
became convinced that I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do art, period.â&#x20AC;?
Through botanical art, Graves rediscovered her passion for painting, eventually becoming a member of
the local chapter of the Northern California Botanical Artist Society. The other facet of her passion for
antique varieties of plants is an ecological and environmental message.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not a big fan of agribusiness, the vast monocultures of genetically modified corn,â&#x20AC;? Graves says.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a scary direction weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re taking our food
supply in, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pushing in the other direction.â&#x20AC;?
The artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s series of historical vegetable paintings
is just that.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;One thing Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to paint is the kind of potato that was being grown in Ireland when the potato
blight hit, causing the potato famine,â&#x20AC;? Graves says.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re now as vulnerable because all the potatoes we
grow are almost all one variety.â&#x20AC;?
Being informative through art has always been important to Graves.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I philosophically believe that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for us
to grow (antique vegetables) and preserve them, and
I think they have a story to tell,â&#x20AC;? Graves says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is
definitely my intention to use my art along with my
writing to continue to educate people.â&#x20AC;?
Gravesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; studio is a makeshift space, filled with
natural light and a view into her overflowing garden.
She often brings her subjects up to the studio to paint,
preferring it to the outdoors.
Her paintings start from one spot on the page, almost finishing the layers of paint, then slowly spread
outwards to fill in the penciled sketch. Graves often
leaves a seemingly finished painting in her studio to
let it settle.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I like to live with it before I declare it done,â&#x20AC;?
Graves says. N
What: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art in the Garden,â&#x20AC;? a garden-themed art exhibition, â&#x20AC;&#x153;paint-outâ&#x20AC;? and sale
Where: Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto
When: An artist reception and preview sale are scheduled along with the exhibition on Friday, July 20, from 7
to 8:30 p.m. On July 21, the garden will host the exhibition, â&#x20AC;&#x153;paint-outâ&#x20AC;? and art sale.
Cost: A ticket to Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events costs $30; admission on
Saturday is free.
Info: Go to gamblegarden.com or call 650-329-1356.
manityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wars. Cooke will present
Gustav Mahlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
vision of heaven in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Das himmlische Leben,â&#x20AC;? from his Symphony
no. 4.
While Cooke says Mahler is the
composer she feels closest to, the
piece is a bit of a departure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People think of me for a more grounded repertoire, and this is more of
a soprano voice. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meant to be
an angel with this childlike innocence,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Overall, the theme for Music@
Menlo this summer is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Resonance.â&#x20AC;? Finckel and Wu Han have
sought out music to strike deep
chords with listeners and explore
musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power to heal and transport. The festival runs July 20
through Aug. 11, with eight main
concerts as well as recitals, student
concerts and talks. Events are at
Menlo School, the Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton
High School and St. Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.
For their July 28 recital, Cooke
and Markgraf said they were
thrilled to be choosing their own
music. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a rare gift for a chamber
vocalist.
Markgraf, who has been studying his family tree, will honor his
Norwegian roots by singing three
Edvard Grieg songs. Accustomed
to singing in German, Italian,
French and Russian, Markgraf
realized heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never sung in Norwegian before. Grieg, he of piano
miniatures and concerti, seemed a
natural choice.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He wrote nearly 150 songs. ...
Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not all lighthouses in the
sea of lieder repertoire, but the
ones that are great are more than
great,â&#x20AC;? Markgraf said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;His musical language and the lushness of
his harmonic texture really make
for some affecting songs. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
nothing standing in the way. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
very immediate music.â&#x20AC;?
Markgrafâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recital choices also
include â&#x20AC;&#x153;War Scenes,â&#x20AC;? a cycle of
Ned Rorem songs set to Walt Whitman poetry. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are extremely
demanding pianistically, so to be
able to work on them with a pianist as skilled and seasoned and
renowned as Gil (Kalish) is quite
a treat,â&#x20AC;? he said.
Cooke is singing songs by
Brahms including â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nicht mehr zu
dir zu gehen (To visit you no longer)â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Die Mainacht (The May
night),â&#x20AC;? as well as songs by Francis
Poulenc and George Crumb.
Closing the recital, Markgraf
and Cooke will sing three love
duets from the Jerome Kern/Os(continued on page 26)
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 25
Arts & Entertainment
Music@Menlo
(continued from page 25)
Info: Music@Menlo runs July 20
through Aug. 11. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Transportedâ&#x20AC;?
concert is 8 p.m. July 27 at MenloAtherton High Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for
Performing Arts, 555 Middlefield
Road, Atherton; tickets are $20-$65.
Cooke and Markgraf will perform
their recital with Gilbert Kalish at 8
p.m. July 28 at St. Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Episcopal
Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto.
Admission is $15-$60.
For a complete schedule of concerts,
talks and other events, go to musicatmenlo.org or call 650-330-2030.
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL
CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE
BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1
CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT
ACCESS CHANNEL 26
**********************************
THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS.
THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL
DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED
AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE:
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp
(TENTATIVE) AGENDAâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;SPECIAL MEETINGCOUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM
July 16, 2012 - 5:30 PM
1.
P&TC Interview of One Candidate
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY
2. Bay Area Council Yangpu District Presentation
3. Community Presentation: Project Safety Net
STUDY SESSION
4. Cool Cities Challenge
CONSENT CALENDAR
5. Approval of an Electric Enterprise Fund Contract with Golden State Utility
Company for Trenching and Substructure Installation Services in the
Amount of $2,677,800
6. Approval of Contract Amendment with Baker & Taylor to Add $40,000.00
for Digital Format Books for a Total Amount Not to Exceed $1,290,000
7. Approval of a Contract with Con-Quest Contractors, Inc. in the Amount of
$518,400 for the Relocation of a 96-Inch Diameter Storm Drain Pipeline on
East Bayshore Road Near San Francisquito Creek, Capital Improvement
Program Project SD-06101
8. Amendment to Contract C12142966 with Par Electric for the
Reconductoring of the 60kV 60Kilovolt Electric System in the Amount of
$85,000
9. Approval and Authorization of the City Manager to Execute a Contract
with Canus Corporation in the Amount of $7,672,500 for Electric, Water,
Gas, Wastewater, Storm Drain and Public Works Construction Inspection
Services
10. Adoption of Resolution Placing an Initiative Measure on November 2012
Ballot to Permit Three Medical Marijuana Dispensaries to Operate in Palo
Alto
11. Approval of a Contract for Goods (Purchase Order) for the Acquisition of
Toshiba Laptops
12. Approval of Fiscal Year 2012 Re-appropriation Requests to be Carried
Forward into Fiscal Year 2013
ACTION ITEMS
13. Direction on Downtown Parking Strategies and Approval of Trial
Residential Permit Parking Program In and Around the Professorville
Neighborhood
14. Utilities Advisory Commission Recommendation that Council Approve
a DeďŹ nition of Carbon Neutrality in Anticipation of Achieving a Carbon
Neutral Electric Supply Portfolio by 2015
CLOSED SESSION-Labor
15. Palo Alto Police OfďŹ cers Assoc.
16. Palo Alto Police Managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Assoc.
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Cubberley Policy Advisory Committee meeting will be held on July 19,
2012 at 10:00 AM to discuss topics brought forward from the Cubberley Citizen
Advisory Committee.
Page 26Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Worth a Look
Film
Windrider Film Forum
Michelle Le
car Hammerstein II musical â&#x20AC;&#x153;Show
Boat.â&#x20AC;? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fitting for a program offering something rare to a pair of
traveling musicians: the chance to
travel and sing together. Usually
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re booked at separate gigs, and
with a young daughter in the mix,
life is difficult to schedule.
Even back at home, Cooke joked,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Half the time weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just arguing over who gets to use the piano
first.â&#x20AC;?
Fortunately, the two are getting to
perform together more often, typically at summer festivals. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was just
saying we should make an ad on our
website,â&#x20AC;? Cooke said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People like
seeing a couple together.â&#x20AC;?
Regardless of what happens with
the festival scene, Cooke is scheduled to be back in the Bay Area
again next July. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making her
San Francisco Opera debut playing the title role in Mark Adamoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
new opera â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Gospel of Mary
Magdalene.â&#x20AC;?
Adamo, who wrote the 1998 op-
era â&#x20AC;&#x153;Little Women,â&#x20AC;? is telling the sacred story from Mary Magdaleneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
point of view. Cooke says Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
character is vivid â&#x20AC;&#x201D; spiritual, loyal
and sensual â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the vocal writing
beautiful.
There are advantages to starring
in a world premiere. From time to
time, Cooke said, Adamo has called
to seek her input on musical passages, sometimes even wondering
which key sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d prefer.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask for a kinder
composer,â&#x20AC;? Cooke said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When does
a singer get this freedom?â&#x20AC;? N
Terri Bullock of Menlo Park is the director of the
Windrider Bay Area Film Forum.
Two more nights remain in the acclaimed Windrider
Bay Area Film Forum, giving audience members the
chance to learn about a championship wrestler who is
deaf, and an influential dog in an Australian mining community. Led by Menlo Park resident Terri Bullock, the
Atherton forum features screenings and post-screening
audience discussions with the filmmakers.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The conversations tend to peel away the layers of the
film and explore the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message or impact on culture,â&#x20AC;?
Windrider executive Shannon Fischer said.
Tonight, July 13, the Oren Kaplan film â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hammerâ&#x20AC;?
will be shown at 7 p.m. It tells the story of the first deaf
wrestler to win a national collegiate championship, and has
a deaf actor playing every deaf character in the film. The
movie is two-third English and one-third in American Sign
Language, with subtitles for both parts.
Kaplan and actress Shoshanna Stern will join the postfilm discussion, with an ASL interpreter on hand.
On Saturday, July 14, screenwriter Daniel Paplitz and
actor Josh Lucas will visit to talk about their forum film,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Red Dog,â&#x20AC;? following a 7 p.m. screening. Directed by Kriv
Stenders, the movie is set in the Australian outback and follows a dog who becomes important to the mining populace
there. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a story about unconditional love, loyalty and accepting people no matter what,â&#x20AC;? Stenders said.
Events are in the Performing Arts Center at Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road. Tickets for each
night are $15 general and $5 for students. Go to windriderbayarea.org.
Books
Emily Jeanne Miller
Once an environmental journalist, now a first-time novelist, Emily Jeanne Miller is coming to town to give an author
talk at the Palo Alto Libraryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown branch, through
Books Inc.
In â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brand New Human Being,â&#x20AC;? Miller creates the character of Logan Pyle, a former grad student whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a stayat-home dad to 4-year-old Owen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My father is dead, my
wife is indifferent, and my son is strange,â&#x20AC;? Logan says in
the book. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m thirty-six years old. My life is nothing like
I thought it would be.â&#x20AC;? When Logan spots his wife kissing
another guy, he hits the road with Owen in a carseat.
Miller, who has an MFA in fiction from the University of
Florida, worked as a journalist in California and the Rocky
Mountains, and co-edited a writing anthology in Montana.
Her author talk is free and located at 270 Forest Ave. in Palo
Alto, starting at 7 p.m. July 17.
For more, go to booksinc.net.
Festival
Connoisseursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Marketplace
Foodies and arties (if that is a word) alike may find some-
thing worth their whiles in Menlo Park next weekend. For
the 26th year, the downtown thoroughfare of Santa Cruz Avenue will host the Connoisseursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Marketplace street fair.
Visiting foodies may gravitate toward demonstrations by
professional chefs; specialty foods; samples from local eateries; and microbrew- and wine-tasting. Chefs will include
Joanne Weir, a television cook and cookbook author; and
chefs from local restaurants such as Left Bank, Trellis, the
Menlo Hub and Carpaccio. Artisan foods will be available
for sample and purchase.
In addition, some 250 artists will show and sell their work
in the form of sculpture, photography, paintings, ceramics,
glass, beadwork, etchings, jewelry, windchimes and other
objects. Other events at the fair will include live music, kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
activities, a car show, and home and garden exhibits.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 21 and 22; admission is free. For more information, go to miramarevents.
com or call 650-325-2818.
Music
Choir of Sidney Sussex College
Hailing from the land of early English composers Robert Fayrfax and Christopher Tye, the Choir of Sidney Sussex College within the University of Cambridge is touring the United States, and will be performing in Stanford
Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Memorial Church.
The college was founded in 1596, and has a history of
nurturing professional musicians. Its choir has won â&#x20AC;&#x153;Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choiceâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;CD of the Monthâ&#x20AC;? awards in Gramophone magazine. The group, which tours the States every
three years, focuses on 16th-century music, as well as the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also performs new
commissioned works.
At Stanford, the choir will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 4.
Admission is free. For more information, go to music.
stanford.edu.
Exhibits
Museum of American Heritage
At the heart of the 20th century lies the foundation
of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology. Hair dryers, washing machines,
vacuum cleaners and refrigerators were all essential inventions that revolutionized everyday life. This is the
theme of the latest exhibit at Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum of
American Heritage.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Inventing the 20th Centuryâ&#x20AC;? will run through Jan.
13, 2013, and will include several artifacts from the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permanent collection, from eggbeaters to typewriters. Displaying pieces from the turn of the century to
the second World War, exhibit organizers hope to spark
todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovation with the inventions of the past.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, offering free admission as
well as group tours. For more information, go to moah.
org or call 650-473-6950.
A&E DIGEST
CAMERA CLUB ON THE COASTSIDE ... Fresh from a
Palo Alto Camera Club exhibition at the Pacific Art League,
five club members are showing work at the 2012 Kellicutt
International Photo Show put on the by the Coastal Arts
League. Photos by Branko Radonjic, Richard Stulz, Deborah Plumley, Marvin Wax and Laurie Naiman are on display in Half Moon Bay until the show moves to the Gallery
at Calument in San Francisco from Aug. 2 through Aug.
30.
The showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vibrant!â&#x20AC;? and drew 1,500 entries from 17 countries, according to a press release; 21
were chosen. Four of the Palo Altans won honors. Wax
took one of two second-place awards for his piece â&#x20AC;&#x153;Light
thru Blinds,â&#x20AC;? which he shot in his home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At a specific
early-morning hour there was a special vibrant light on the
blinds that beckoned to be photographed,â&#x20AC;? he wrote in an
artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement.
Stultzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photo â&#x20AC;&#x153;Up Escalatorâ&#x20AC;? won a third-place prize,
and Plumley and Naiman were awarded honorable mentions. For more about the show, go to coastalartsleague.
com.
Eating Out
Inspirations
a guide to the spiritual community
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC
ÂŁÂ&#x2122;nxĂ&#x160;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;,Â&#x153;>`]Ă&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Â­Ă&#x2C6;xĂ¤ÂŽĂ&#x160;nxĂ&#x2C6;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;Ă&#x2C6;Ă&#x2C6;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°vVVÂŤ>Â°Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;}Ă&#x160;
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10:00 a.m. This Sunday
Simple Instructions
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Rev. David Howell preaching
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services
and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in
Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc
at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com
GraphicDesigner
Embarcadero Media, producers of the Palo Alto Weekly, The
Almanac, Mountain View Voice, PaloAltoOnline.com and several
other community websites, is looking for a graphic designer to
join its award-winning design team.
Design opportunities include online and print ad design and
Veronica Weber
editorial page layout. Applicant must be ďŹ&#x201A;uent in InDesign,
Photoshop and Illustrator. Flash knowledge is a plus. Newspaper
or previous publication experience is preferred, but we will
consider qualiďŹ ed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including entry level â&#x20AC;&#x201D; candidates. Most
The â&#x20AC;&#x153;originalâ&#x20AC;? Philly Cheese Steak features grilled beef, onions, provolone cheese and peppers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s served
on a roll from Amorosoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a bakery in Philadelphia.
To apply, please send a resume along with samples of your
Palo Alto gets a taste of Philadelphia
work as a PDF (or URL) to Shannon Corey, Creative Director,
at scorey@paweekly.com
by Sheila Himmel
N
However, the shop does offer
handsome wooden furniture, should
you choose to stay and study some
poster-size photographs of cheesesteak shops and vintage cars.
The Cheese Steak Shop features
100 percent beef loin from SteakEze (â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Original Breakaway
Steakâ&#x20AC;?). Other cheese-steak purveyors use rib-eye or top round. I
canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see how it matters a lot, after
all the meat goes through. It is sliced
thin, chopped senseless on a lightly
oiled grill, and merged with melted
cheese and possibly grilled onions.
The Cheese Steak Shop also offers
â&#x20AC;&#x153;cheese steaksâ&#x20AC;? made from chicken
breast, two versions for vegetarians
and an Italian hoagie.
speed, accuracy and thrive under deadline pressure. The
position will be approximately 32 hours per week.
Say cheese steak
ear the intersection of Palo
Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s California Avenue and
El Camino Real, add a taste
of Philadelphia to the array of quick
dining opportunities.
The first Cheese Steak Shop
opened in San Francisco 40 years
ago. Now there are 28 stores sprinkled around Northern California
and one in Manila, for some reason.
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opened in December.
The highlight is the light and
chewy roll from Amorosoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a
100-year-old family-owned bakery
in Philadelphia. The bread absorbs
all the meaty flavors, and it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
immediately turn to mush if you
carry it out of the shop to eat later,
as you are most likely to do.
importantly, designer must be a team player and demonstrate
Salads march in the same formation: steak, chicken, vegetable and
Italian, which means provolone
cheese, mortadella, salami, ham
and capicollo (a cross between salami and ham). On the Italian hoagie
($5.39 for 7 inches) you can taste
where each meat stops and starts.
Your options on the cheese steak
are grilled onions and hot and/or
sweet peppers. I recommend them
all, to jazz it up. Mushrooms also
are a good addition for 30 cents.
Some of the other add-ons, such as
pizza sauce and smoky barbecue
sauce, would obliterate the meat
flavor altogether.
(continued on page 28)
4 5 0 C A M B R I D G E AV E N U E | PA L O A LT O
Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest
DEADLINE
EXTENDED!
ENTRY DEADLINE IS
FRIDAY, JULY 27
For entr y form and rules:
www.PaloAltoOnline.com
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Eating Out
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Jose Romero, left, layers provolone cheese atop grilled steak and
onions, while shop owner Alex Jen prepares sandwiches.
Our cards are real. Each card is hand signed by our doctors. Walk-ins welcome.
100% private and conďŹ dential. 24/7 online and telephone veriďŹ cation.
Special discounts for Disable, Medicare & Veterans
(continued from page 27)
3AN*OSEEVALUATIONSCOM s
s SJ420.com
Visit our website to book your appointment online 24/7
-ONDAY THROUGH 3ATURDAY
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Side dishes include potato chips,
garlic fries, onion rings and hot
wings. Twisted fries ($1.79 for the
good-sized small) have a crunchy
crust and creamy interior. Steak
fries, thick and soft, fall flat in comparison.
Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find meal deals advertised
in newspapers and on the walls.
Look for the fine print: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Valid 3
p.m. to closingâ&#x20AC;? on newspaper coupons. But the posted combinations
may be just as good, such as a 7-inch
classic sandwich, small fries and
small (12-ounce, plenty big) soda
for $5.99 at lunch. How lunch is different from dinner, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know.
The Cheese Steak Shop guarantees authenticity with its peppers,
rolls and Tastycakes imported from
Philadelphia. The rolls, in 7-, 10and 15-inch lengths, are like Italian rolls, but more hot dog-shaped.
According to Amorosoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Web site,
their specialness comes from hearth
baking: â&#x20AC;&#x153; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hearth-bakedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; means our
bread and rolls never see the inside
of a pan and are free to form their
own individual â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;personalitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the
oven.â&#x20AC;?
About those Tastycakes. Farflung Philadelphians bond over
them, pooh-poohing any similarity
to Hostess, Little Debbie and others of their ilk. The heavy favorite,
butterscotch krimpets ($2.19 at the
Cheese Steak Shop), lug a long and
complex list of ingredients and 350
calories in their wake.
Texture-free and extremely sweet,
these little iced sponge cakes may
be the kind of thing you had to grow
up with to appreciate. N
PENINSULA
Discover the best places
to eat this week!
AMERICAN
CHINESE
Armadillo Willyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Chef Chuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
941-2922
1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos
www.armadillowillys.com
948-2696
1067 N. San Antonio Road
www.chefchu.com
Cheese Steak Shop
Mingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
326-1628
2305-B El Camino Real, Palo Alto
856-7700
1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto
www.mings.com
Luttickenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
854-0291
3535 Alameda, Menlo Park
www.luttickens.com
The Old Pro
326-1446
541 Ramona Street, Palo Alto
www.oldpropa.com
STEAKHOUSE
Sundance the Steakhouse
321-6798
1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
www.sundancethesteakhouse.com
New Tung Kee Noodle House
947-8888
520 Showers Drive, Mountain View
www.shopmountainview.com/luvnoodlemv
INDIAN
Janta Indian Restaurant
Veronica Weber
Restrictions apply. Must bring proof.
( must present ad-one per patient )
Veronica Weber
We beat Any
competitors prices
Yes, Philadelphia, there is a
vegetarian â&#x20AC;&#x153;cheese steak.â&#x20AC;? It
contains spinach, mushrooms,
lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and
peppers.
Cheese Steak Shop, 2035B El
Camino Real, Palo Alto; (650)
326-1628; cheesesteakshop.
com
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.Thurs.; 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.;
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Movies
OPENINGS
Beasts of the Southern
Wild ----
(Guild) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once there was a Hushpuppy and she lived with her daddy
in The Bathtub,â&#x20AC;? voices the 6-yearold narrator who wants to record
her story for posterity. The little girl
has a big imagination. And so does
writer-director Benh Zeitlin, whose
stunningly original first feature unspools like a dreamlike fable. Independent filmmaking doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come
any better than this.
Newcomer QuvenzhanĂŠ Wallis delivers a riveting performance
as the child trying to make sense
of her world situated on the wrong
side of a southern Louisiana levee.
She and her ailing father (Dwight
Henry) struggle to stay afloat in The
Bathtub, a floodplain populated with
odd characters and littered with ramshackle housing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a hurricane away
from disaster. But the bayou community refuses to be displaced. Fiercely
protective of their culture and each
other, the colorful eccentrics â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with
names including Wink and Walrus
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t flinch in the face of Mother
Nature or the government workers
who try to evacuate them from the
home that they love.
Zeitlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gift is the ability to pack
social commentary within a unique
voice and look. He and co-writer
Lucy Alibar address the difficulties of preserving a people and their
culture in post-Katrina Louisiana.
Whether learning how to â&#x20AC;&#x153;beastâ&#x20AC;?
a crab by cracking it and sucking
out the meat, or sputtering across
the delta in a jerry-built boat, Hushpuppy belongs to a community that
W I NN E R
GR AND JURY PRIZE
.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;HAUNTINGLY
BEAUTIFUL
BOTH VISUALLY AND IN THE TENDERNESS
IT SHOWS TOWARD THE CHAR ACTERS.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153; AN UTTERLY ORIGINAL, AND UNFORGETTABLE,
TOUR DE FORCEâ&#x20AC;?
.
B R Y A N
ALEXANDER
SPELLBINDINGâ&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;
The Intouchables --
SUNDANCE FILM
FESTIVAL
MANOHLA
D A R G I S
EXCELLENCE IN
CINEMATOGR APHY
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Rated PG-13 for language, child
imperilment, brief sensuality, disturbing images and thematic material. 1 hour, 33 minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Susan Tavernetti
K A R E N
D U R BI N
CAMĂ&#x2030;R A Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;OR
CANNES FILM
FESTIVAL
will captivate your attention.
Experiencing this subculture from
the young girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective allows
us to enter a world of wonder. Looking for her father, Hushpuppy mutters: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Daddy could have turned into
a tree or a bug. There wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t any
way to know.â&#x20AC;? Clearly the fabric
of the universe unravels with her
fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s declining health. A storm
approaches. The ice caps melt, releasing primordial aurochs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
beasts advancing within Hushpuppyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. The rains come. Waters
rise. The coming-of-age story forces
the feisty little girl to sink or swim.
Similar to Zeitlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s award-winning short, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Glory at Sea,â&#x20AC;? the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
imagery has a haunting quality, especially once the characters become
unmoored. The 2012 Sundance Film
Festival recognized Ben Richardsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cinematography and awarded
the Grand Jury Prize to the movie,
which has a local angle: The San
Francisco Film Society/Kenneth
Rainin Foundation supported the
production with two grants.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beasts of the Southern Wildâ&#x20AC;? is a
must-see movie of rare vision. And
the defiant brown eyes of QuvenzhanĂŠ Wallis burn with a warrior
spirit that you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t soon forget.
(Aquarius) In â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Intouchables,â&#x20AC;?
a rich, stuffy, white man exposes a
poor black man to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;finer thingsâ&#x20AC;?
in life; in turn, the black man teaches the white man how to loosen up
and find love. No need to check your
watch. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still 2012.
With its brash humor and emotional generosity, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Intouchablesâ&#x20AC;? has crowd-pleaser written
all over it, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no mistaking
the queasy racial implications. The
comedy-drama has its basis in a true
story, whipped by writer-directors
Olivier Nakache and Ă&#x2030;ric Toledano
into a buddy-movie froth. FranĂ§ois
Cluzet (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tell No Oneâ&#x20AC;?) plays Phillippe, a quadriplegic white mil-
NOW PLAYING
The following is a sampling of movies
recently reviewed in the Weekly:
JOSE
MENLO PARK
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS SAN
$(/*,+(,(). (!'*%1+-$&!#",*"
START FRIDAY, JULY 13
Savages ---1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) Oliver Stone still
believes in red-meat cinema. The proof is
in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Savages,â&#x20AC;? a hard-R crime drama that
never treats the audience as juvenile. A war
veteran named Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and
his business partner and best friend Ben
(Aaron Johnson) have a partnership that
brings to mind the entrepreneurship of Ben
and Jerry. The boutique product they export isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gourmet ice cream but gourmet
pot. Ben and Chon face a takeover by a
Mexican cartel, but when the duo makes
other plans, the cartel takes their surfer
girl â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oâ&#x20AC;? (Blake Lively) hostage, setting off
a war of wills. Salma Hayekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Elena, the
cruel cartel mistress, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t suffer fools,
but sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a devoted, frustrated mother.
Benicio Del Toro plays her top goon, Lado,
both psychotic and sensitive. John Travolta
is the slick, corrupt DEA agent. All three
could be Oscar front-runners. The menage
a trois at the heart of the film symbolizes
American life: Naive consumer O is in bed
with both damaged-goods muscle Chon
and Buddhist businessman Ben, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll
never want her as much as they want, need
and envy each other. Rated R for violence,
sexuality, nudity, drug use and language.
Two hours, 10 minutes.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed
July 6, 2012)
QuvenzhanĂŠ Wallis and Dwight Henry in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beasts of the Southern Wild.â&#x20AC;?
lionaire who unexpectedly plucks adventurer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; appreciates Drissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Senegalese immigrant Driss (Omar irreverent insistence on prodding
Sy) out of the Parisian ghetto to be his boss out of his discomfort zone
a live-in home-care provider. (The and into his need for speed and roreal â&#x20AC;&#x153;Drissâ&#x20AC;? was Algerian immi- mance. Phillippe brings Driss to
grant Abdel Sellou, who penned the high-society events, including the
memoir â&#x20AC;&#x153;You Changed My Life.â&#x20AC;?)
opera; Driss plays Earth, Wind &
Nakache and Toledano open the Fire for Phillippe and gets him high.
film with a sequence that suggests Driss needles Phillippe to lay down
a slick crime movie: speeding cars, the law with his spoiled adoptive
energetic music and our heroes daughter and, more importantly, to
conning the cops. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just one face his fears by meeting his female
of the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many artful dodges, an pen pal. Phillippe teaches Driss
entertaining hook placed at the top about painting, which he profitably
because it is, superficially, a good takes up.
way to start a movie. Thereafter, the
Wildly popular in its native
story flashes back to how Phillippe France, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Intouchablesâ&#x20AC;? applies
meets Driss, sees something in him, strict formula to an entirely reasand installs him in a mansion that suring story about improving oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
offers all the amenities, including life by coming out of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shell and
a huge bedroom (!), a huge bathtub embracing new people and experi(!!) and a hot redhead (!!!), Phil- ences. As told through bromance,
lippeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant, Magalie (Audrey itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a cinematic warm fuzzy if ever
Fleurot).
there was one, and the performances
Driss initially balks at the work of by Cluzet and Sy prove highly apa nurse, especially since it involves pealing if not irresistible. But here
intimacy with Philippeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nether re- in America, where we invented this
gions. But collecting welfare checks formula, audiences are likely to find
cannot compete with living high on it discomfitingly retrograde.
the hog, so Driss settles in, merrily
flirts with Magalie and boogies to
Rated R for language and some
Earth, Wind & Fire, lest we doubt drug use. One hour, 52 minutes.
his credentials as a Life Force capable of reigniting Phillippe.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese
For his part, the classical-musicloving Phillippe â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also a closet
The Amazing Spider-Man --(Century 16, Century 20) Viewers will compare â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Amazing Spider-Man,â&#x20AC;? to Sam
Raimiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2002 effort, and it could be argued
that the two are on equal footing. In this
comic book movie reboot, Andrew Garfield (â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Social Networkâ&#x20AC;?) is high-school
outcast Peter Parker, and Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love interest is Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
parents left him with his uncle Ben (Martin
Sheen) and aunt May (Sally Field) when he
was a boy, and he still puzzles over their
sudden departure. Peter discovers his
father had been working with one-armed
scientist Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), and
visits Connors at R&D company OsCorp. A
genetically altered spider bites Peter, who
starts showing enhanced strength and
reflexes. He dubs himself Spider-Man, and
takes to swinging over the city. The visual
effects in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Amazingâ&#x20AC;? are superior (including
breathtaking scenes from Spider-Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
P.O.V.) and its villain, the Lizard, is one of
the genreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most frightening. The battle
scenes between Spider-Man and the
Lizard are exceptional. Garfield is a terrific actor â&#x20AC;&#x201D; better than Maguire â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
Stone is a welcome upgrade over the dour
Kirsten Dunst. Both familiar and fresh, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a
spectacle with enough thrills and humor to
satisfy most fans. Rated PG-13 for action
and violence. Two hours, 16 minutes.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
T.H. (Reviewed July 6, 2012)
Take This Waltz --1/2
(Aquarius) Films concerned with adultery,
or the potential for it, teeter over the pitfall
of unlikeableness. A character even asking
the loaded question â&#x20AC;&#x153;Should I cheat?â&#x20AC;? risks
the abandonment of audience sympathy,
but writer-director Sarah Polley goes there
with her sophomore feature. Polleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fearlessness is one of many reasons I take no
pleasure in saying that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Take This Waltzâ&#x20AC;?
stumbles. High expectations accompany
her latest film particularly with the cast
Polley has enlisted, including Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen as a married couple.
Williamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Margot shares a connection with
hipster Daniel (Luke Kirby), who happens
to live across the street from her and her
husband, Lou. Polley knows well enough
that nothing is permanent and, as the
Bard wrote, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Affection is not rated from the
heart.â&#x20AC;? But the maturity of these understandings does not, in and of itself, a movie
make, and the devil of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Take This Waltzâ&#x20AC;?
is in its tonal missteps and unconvincing
details. Margotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maddening indecision is
probably entirely realistic, but the way she
prolongs the process of making three people miserable quickly alienates the viewer.
Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a movie about this subject that
finds the humor in it and lets us sympathize
with the characters, but these two hours of
discomfort donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t add up to it.Rated R for
language, sexual content and nudity. One
hour, 57 minutes.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed July
6, 2012)
To Rome with Love -(Palo Alto Square, Century 20) There are
three million stories in the Eternal City;
(continued on next page)
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 29
Movies
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN That The Palo Alto
City Council At The Special Council Meeting
On Monday, July 23, 2012 At 7:00 P.M. Or As
Near Thereafter As Possible, In The Council
Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto,
Will Have a Public Meeting to Consider the
Approval of Detailed Sidewalk and Plaza Design
for California Avenue Transit Hub Corridor
Streetscape Improvements Project.
DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC
City Clerk
WOODY ALLEN
ALEC BALDWIN
ROBERTO BENIGNI
PENĂ&#x2030;LOPE CRUZ
JUDY DAVIS
â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the most delightful things
about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;To Rome With Loveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is how
casually it blends the plausible and
the surreal, and how unabashedly
it revels in pure silliness.â&#x20AC;?
-A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES
JESSE EISENBERG
GRETA GERWIG
ELLEN PAGE
TO ROME WITH LOVE
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY WOODY
ALLEN
WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM
CENTURY 12
DOWNTOWN SAN MATEO
320 East 2nd Ave,
San Mateo (800) FANDANGO
CENTURY 20
DOWNTOWN REDWOOD CITY
825 Middlefield Rd,
Redwood City (800) FANDANGO
CINĂ&#x2030;ARTS@PALO ALTO
SQUARE
3000 El Camino Real,
Palo Alto (800) FANDANGO
VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.TOROMEWITHLOVE.COM
(continued from previous page)
Woody Allen tells four of them. To follow
the enjoyable but overpraised â&#x20AC;&#x153;Midnight
in Paris,â&#x20AC;? Allen goes â&#x20AC;&#x153;To Rome with Loveâ&#x20AC;?
and promptly loses his way. Allen long
ago made his reputation as a filmmaker
and no one can take that away from him,
not even Woody himself. But that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
stop him from trying. The most pleasurable
aspect of the film â&#x20AC;&#x201D; apart from the location photography of Darius Khondji â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is
the onscreen appearance of Allen. None
of the storylines is without problems. The
tales tend to be predictable and, in terms
of humor and thematic import, weak tea.
More distressing is Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regressive treatment of women and an off-putting solipsism. Repeatedly, sexy women confess
their attraction to Woody-esque men with
power, celebrity, neuroses and a tendency
for â&#x20AC;&#x153;reminiscingâ&#x20AC;? about the past. Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
privileged-male, American-in-Rome condescension takes most of the fun out of the
film. Rated R for sexual references. One
hour, 42 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed June
29, 2012)
Ted (Century 16, Century 20) Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s say youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
a TV mogul, and Universal Pictures hands
you $65 million to make your first bigscreen comedy. Would you squander the
opportunity by recycling your TV material
and spackling on R-rated jokes? Seth MacFarlane (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Family Guyâ&#x20AC;?) would, and did, with
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ted.â&#x20AC;? Those who love â&#x20AC;&#x153;Family Guyâ&#x20AC;? may
love â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tedâ&#x20AC;? even more, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lazy comedy: stupid, aimless and seldom funny. A
magically granted â&#x20AC;&#x153;Christmas wishâ&#x20AC;? imbues
the teddy bear of 8-year-old John Bennett with consciousness. The bear, Ted,
becomes a celebrity doing Carson one day
and forgotten the next, but 27 years later,
John (Mark Wahlberg) remains joined at
the hip to his fuzzy best friend (voiced by
MacFarlane). And MacFarlaneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of
humor hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t evolved. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trapped in his
own pop-culture nostalgia, and the endless
celebrity-themed jokes and movie parodies
betray him as more of a comedy parasite
than an auteur. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost worth the price
of admission to see Wahlberg happily
clinging to the waist of Sam â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flash Gordonâ&#x20AC;?
Jones, but otherwise MacFarlane enrolls in
the school of profane shock comedy thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
gleefully profane but too rarely clever. Rated R for sexual references. One hour, 47
minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed June 29, 2012)
Snow White and the Huntsman
--1/2
(Century 20) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White and the Huntsmanâ&#x20AC;? is neither the kid-friendly take of
1937â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsâ&#x20AC;?
nor the two-month-old â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mirror Mirror,��&#x20AC;?
nor the R-rated horror version offered by
1997â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White: A Tale of Terror.â&#x20AC;? No,
itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something else. But is it enough? And
whom is it for? Rupert Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; frequently
intense PG-13 film isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for kids, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
not exactly for adults either. The soggy
new script by Evan Daugherty, John Lee
Hancock and Hossein Amini doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dig
deep enough or draw compelling enough
characters to fascinate or entertain, leaving Sanders to justify his filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence
through tasteful visuals. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snowâ&#x20AC;? does give
some ammo to future theses: an outpost of
self-mutilated women who sacrifice beauty
for better lives and a motif of oil slicks that
constitutes an environmental consciousness. Still, these feints, along with Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; good eye and appealing naturalistic
restraint, canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t turn the thin pages of this
picture book into a transcendent fantasy
fable. Rated PG-13 for violence and action,
and brief sensuality. Two hours, eight minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed June 1, 2012)
MOVIE TIMES
Showtimes for the Century 16 theater are for Friday through Wednesday
only unless otherwise noted. Showtimes for the Century 20 theater are for
Friday through Tuesday only unless otherwise noted.
The Amazing Spider-Man (PG-13) (((
Century 16: 10:30 a.m.; 12:20, 3:50, 7:20 & 10:30 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. also at 5:20 p.m.;
In 3D at 10 & 11:20 a.m.; 1:10, 1:50, 2:50, 4:50, 6:20, 8:20 & 9:30 p.m.; In 3D Fri.-Tue.
also at 8:50 p.m. Century 20: 10:45 a.m.; 12:20, 1:50, 3:30, 4:55, 6:40, 8:15 & 9:45
p.m.; In 3D at 11:30 a.m.; 1:10, 2:40, 4:20, 5:50, 7:30, 9:05 & 10:35 p.m.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (PG-13) ((((
Guild Theatre: 2, 4:30, 7 & 9:45 p.m.
Bernie (PG-13) (((
Aquarius Theatre: 3:30 & 8:45 p.m.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (PG-13) ((1/2
Palo Alto Square: 1:15 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. & Thu. also at 4:15 & 7:15 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also
at 10 p.m.
Brave (PG) (((1/2
Century 16: 10:10 a.m.; 3:40 & 9:10 p.m.; In 3D at 12:50 & 6:20 p.m. Century 20:
11 a.m.; 1:45, 4:25, 6:55 & 9:35 p.m.; In 3D at 12:05, 2:35, 5:15, 7:50 & 10:25 p.m.
Carrie (1952) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 5:20 & 9:40 p.m.
The Dark Knight Marathon (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Thu. at 6:15 p.m. Century 20: Thu. at 6:15 p.m.
The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Thu. at 12:01 a.m. Century 20: Thu. at 12:02, 12:03 & 12:04 a.m.
Ice Age: Continental Drift (PG) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 10:30 & 11 a.m.; 1, 1:30, 3:30, 4, 6:10, 7, 8:50 & 9:30 p.m.; In 3D Fri.Thu. at 10 a.m.; 12:30, 3, 5:30, 8:10 & 10:30 p.m.; In 3D Fri.-Wed. also at 11:30 a.m.;
2, 4:30, 7:30 & 10 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 & 11:45 a.m.; 12:50, 2:10, 3:10, 4:35,
5:35, 7, 8, 9:25 & 10:20 p.m.; In 3D Fri.-Wed. at 11:10 a.m.; 1:30, 3:45, 6, 8:20 & 10:40
p.m.; In 3D Fri.-Tue. also at 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:25 & 9:50 p.m.
The Intouchables (R) ((
Aquarius Theatre: 1:15, 4, 7 & 9:45 p.m.
Katy Perry: Part of Me (PG) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 10:40 a.m.; In 3D at 1:20, 4:10, 7:05 & 9:40 p.m. Century 20: 10:35
a.m.; In 3D at 12:55, 3:15 & 5:40 p.m.; In 3D Sat.-Tue. also at 8:10 & 10:35 p.m.
Madagascar 3: Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Wanted (PG) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 1:10 p.m.; Sat.-Wed. also at 7 p.m.; Wed. also at 3:30 p.m.; In 3D at 10
a.m.; In 3D Fri.-Tue. also at 3:30 p.m.; In 3D Sat.-Wed. also at 10:20 p.m.
Century 20: 10:20 a.m. & 3 p.m.; Sun.-Tue. also at 10 p.m.; In 3D at 12:40 & 5:20
p.m.; In 3D Sun.-Tue. also at 7:40 p.m.
Magic Mike (R) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:35, 4:10, 7:40 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:25, 5,
7:45 & 10:30 p.m.
The Metropolitan Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Century 20: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Palo Alto
Square: Wed. at 6:30 p.m.
Moonrise Kingdom (PG-13) (((1/2
Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:50, 4:20, 7:10 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 12:25, 2:45, 5:10,
7:45 & 10:10 p.m.
My Fair Lady (1964) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Stanford Theatre: Sat.-Tue. at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. also at 2 p.m.
North by Northwest (1959) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m. Century 20: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m.
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m.
Prometheus (R) (Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 10 a.m.; Fri.-Tue. also at 3:30 p.m.; Sat.-Tue. also at 10 p.m.; Wed. also
at 9:20 p.m.; In 3D Fri.-Tue. at 12:20 p.m.; In 3D Sat.-Tue. also at 7 p.m.
Savages (R) (((1/2
Century 16: 10 a.m.; 12:55, 3:50, 7 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 a.m.; 1:20,
4:15, 7:20 & 10:25 p.m.
Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13) ((1/2
Century 20: 10:40 a.m.; 1:30, 4:20, 7:25 & 10:20 p.m.
Take This Waltz (R) ((1/2
Aquarius Theatre: 12:45 & 6 p.m.
Ted (R) (
Century 16: 10:50 a.m.; 1:40, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 10:50 a.m.;
12:10, 1:25, 2:45, 4:05, 5:20, 6:50, 7:55, 9:25 & 10:40 p.m.
Three Little Words (1950) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 5:35 & 9:40 p.m.
To Rome With Love (R) ((
Century 20: 10:55 a.m.; 1:40 & 4:30 p.m.; Sun.-Tue. also at 7:10 & 9:55 p.m. Palo
Alto Square: 1:30, 4:30 & 7:25 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 10:05 p.m.
Tyler Perryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Madeaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Witness Protection (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
Century 20: 12:15, 2:50 & 5:25 p.m.; Fri. & Sun.-Tue. also at 8:05 & 10:45 p.m.
Words and Music (1948) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 7:30 p.m.
( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding
Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260)
Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View
(800-326-3264)
Century Theatres at Palo Alto Square
Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest
DEADLINE
EXTENDED!
ENTRY DEADLINE IS
FRIDAY, JULY 27
For entr y form and rules:
www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Page 30Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City
(800-326-3264)
Fri & Sat
7/13-7/14
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:00
To Rome with Love - 1:30, 4:30, 7:25, 10:05
CinĂŠArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456)
Sun -Tues
7/15-7/17
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 1:15, 4:15. 7:15
To Rome with Love - 1:30, 4:30, 7:25
Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260)
Wed
7/18
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 1:15
To Rome with Love - 1:30, 4:30, 7:25
Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700)
Thurs
7/19
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 1:15, 4:15, 7:15
To Rome with Love - 1:30, 4:30, 7:25
Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information
about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies
Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com
Sports
Shorts
LOCAL GOLFERS . . . Former Pac-10
individual champion Martin Trainer
of Palo Alto will be one of eight local
golfers competing on Monday at the
U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifying
at the Marin Country Club. Trainer, a
Gunn High graduate and member of
the USC golf team, will be joined by
Spencer Fletcher of Los Altos, brothers Bradley and Kevin Knox of Menlo
Park, Dustin McMillen of Palo Alto,
Menlo School grad Bobby Pender of
Los Altos Hills, Menlo-Atherton grad
Nick Sako of Menlo Park, and Robert
Salomon of Portola Valley. The oneday event features 36 holes of stroke
play, with the low individuals advancing to the U.S. Amateur Championship
on Aug. 13-19 at Cherry Hills Country
Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
Keith Peters
FUNDRAISERS . . . The Menlo Park
Legendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; baseball team will host
a fundraising barbeque and other
activities on Sunday at Nealon Park
in Menlo Park from 5-10 p.m. The
evening will feature dinner, music by
the Windy Hill Bluegrass Band, baseball- inspired carnival games, music,
a home-run derby with Legends players, autograph signing, a balloon raffle
and a silent auction. A pickup-style
softball game will end the night. The
Legends are still accepting contributions to the raffle/silent auction. For
any questions about donations, contact Ali at ali@menloparklegends.com.
Proceeds from the event will benefit
Legends Village, which was created to
provide underprivileged children in the
surrounding areas (Palo Alto, Menlo
Park, Redwood City) free camps, clinics, a mentor program and a chance
to learn the game of baseball. . . . The
Grizzlies, a local boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lacrosse club
in Menlo Park/Atherton, will host an
outdoor movie night (Crooked Arrows
will be screened) on July 17 at Las Lomitas School at 8:15 p.m. The family
package is $10 and includes parents
and up to three siblings while all individuals are $7.50. Proceeds benefit
the nonprofit Grizzliesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; club, which
has grown from 70 to 140 boys (ages
5 to 14). For more information, go to
www.menloathertonlacrosse.com.
Reigning Wimbledon champ Serena Williams began defense of her Bank of the West Classic title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Stanford junior Nicole Gibbs on Wednesday.
BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
Singles showdown
looks like a rematch
Wimbledon champ Serena Williams moves closer to facing
Bartoli again in BOW finals after eliminating Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gibbs
T
Friday
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis: Bank of the West
Classic, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Tennis Channel
Keith Peters
SIGNUPS . . . The Mountain View
Marauders have begun registration
for the upcoming season. Football
players between 7-15 years of age are
eligible while cheerleading ages are
from 9-15. The next signup will be July
19 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Mountain
View Recreation Center, 201 S. Rengstorff.
ON THE AIR
Despite being the NCAA singles and doubles champ in 2012, Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Nicole Gibbs was no match for veteran Serena Williams.
Sunday
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis: Bank of the West
Classic singles final, 1 p.m.; ESPN2
READ MORE ONLINE
www.PASportsOnline.com
For expanded daily coverage of college
and prep sports, please see our new
site at www.PASportsOnline.com
Cibulkova on Saturday to reach the
finals. The No. 2 Bartoli, who faced
Stanford senior Mallory Burdette on
Thursday, was favored to face No.
5 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quarterfinals. A
likely Saturday semifinal for Bartoli
would be No. 8 Marina Erakovic or
unseeded Urszula Radwanska.
The differences between the
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;havesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;have notsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is that
evident in this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual stop
at Stanford. There is no Maria
Sharapova or Victoria Azarenka
to keep things interesting. Simply,
(continued on page 33)
Lin will remain with Knicks, keeps starting job
Saturday
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis: Bank of the West
Classic singles semifinals, 1 p.m. and 7
p.m.; ESPN2
by Rick Eymer
he finals of the 2012 Bank of
the West Classic most likely
will look like a repeat of the
2011 championship. The path to the
last singles match looks that apparent for the favorites.
Barring a major upset along the
way, defending champ Serena Williams will be facing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 runnerup
Marion Bartoli on Sunday at Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Taube Family Tennis Center
at 1 p.m.
The top-seeded Williams only
has to get past No. 6 seed Chanelle
Sheepers of South Africa on Friday and likely No. 3 Dominika
I
f all the reports that are circling
in the NBA are correct, Jeremy
Lin wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be changing his mailing address for the coming season.
The Palo Alto High grad not only
will be returning to the New York
Knicks, but will enter training camp
as the starting point guard.
Lin could sign a new contract with
the Knicks as early as Thursday, for
a reported $28.8 million over four
years.
Knicksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; coach Mike Woodson repeated on Wednesday that Lin will
â&#x20AC;&#x153;absolutelyâ&#x20AC;? be back this season and
will be the starter at his position,
despite the fact New York will sign
veteran Jason Kidd to a reported $9
million over three years.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jeremy was our starter before he
got hurt,â&#x20AC;? Woodson told the New
York Post. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately, he went
down with an injury. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not going
to be punished for that.â&#x20AC;? Woodson
said Kidd will back up Lin and help
in his development.
Lin received an offer sheet from
the Houston Rockets, but the Knicks
said all along they planned to match
any offer for their restricted free
agent. The offer sheet still hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
been signed and sent to the Knicks,
who would then have three days to
match.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jeremy Lin has always been a big
part of what we weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to do
as we move forward with our franchise,â&#x20AC;? Woodson said.
Lin, meanwhile, received an
ESPY Award on Wednesday night
in Los Angeles for the best breakthrough athlete of the year despite
playing in only 35 games before an
injury ended his season. N
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 31
Sports
STANFORD COACHES
PREP SPORTS
Floreal
heads to
Kentucky
Family
move costs
Paly teams
Cardinal track coach
returns to roots in SEC
after Olympic stopover
Two-sport standout
E.J. Floreal will be
heading to Kentucky
F
by Keith Peters
University of Arkansas grad Edrick Floreal will leave Stanford and
return to his roots in the SEC at Kentucky.
the Wildcats, returns to Kentucky
after serving as an assistant for the
Wildcats during the 1996-98 seasons. Floreal left after the 1998 season for Stanford.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am very excited to return to
Kentucky and guide this program
into a new era of success,â&#x20AC;? Floreal
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am certain that with the support of the administration and the
Wildcat community, we can accomplish great things. The new outdoor
track and field facility provides the
perfect venue to accomplish the
many goals I have for UK. My wife
and I are looking forward to being
back in the SEC, competing against
the best in track and field and taking
part in the new rise of champions
at Kentucky. The potential is limitless and I am excited to join the Big
Blue Nation as part of the Wildcat
Family.â&#x20AC;?
Since his arrival at Stanford, the
Cardinal men and women have
enjoyed tremendous success at
the conference and NCAA championship level. A five-time MPSF
Coach of the Year, the 2009 West
Regional Indoor Coach of the Year
and the 2006 West Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year, Floreal
has developed the Stanford sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers into Pac12 and NCAA Championship title
contenders. Under his watch, 91
Stanford athletes have earned 197
All-America honors. N
f Palo Alto High track coach
Jason Fung is putting together
a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Help Wantedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sign just about
now, it probably reads something
like this:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Looking for a tall, talented athlete with speed to burn. Must be
able to run in the 10.50 range for
100 meters and 21.00 vicinity for
the 200. Must like to run relays and
have a heart of a champion. Apply
ASAP.â&#x20AC;?
After enjoying argubably one of
the best track seasons, if not the
best, in school history, Fung is without the athlete who helped make it
happen â&#x20AC;&#x201D; E.J. Floreal.
Floreal will be joining his family in Kentucky this fall after his
father, Edrick, resigned as Director of Track and Field at Stanford
to take over the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
programs at the University of Kentucky.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hit me yet,â&#x20AC;? wrote Floreal in a text, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but it will. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life
though.â&#x20AC;?
With Floreal moving out of state,
the Palo Alto basketball and track
programs have some big shoes to
fill, aside from the fact the talented
senior stands 6-foot-4.
In basketball last season, Floreal
averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds
and three assists per game while
helping the Vikings to a 21-5 record, including a 10-2 finish in
I
Margaret Gallagher
Richard C. Ersted/stanfordphoto.com
irst it was menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swim coach
Skip Kenney, who retired after
33 years. Then it was womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
swim coach Lea Maurer, who resigned after seven years to devote
more time to her family.
Edrick Floreal, who has served
as Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Director of Track and
Field for the past eight seasons,
joined the list of former Cardinal
coaches after he resigned this week
to accept the head coaching position
at the University of Kentucky.
Floreal was hired as an assistant
coach at Stanford in 1998 and was
appointed head coach in 2005.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coach Floreal has been a tremendous contributor to Stanford
Track and Field/Cross Country as
well as the broader Stanford Athletics community,â&#x20AC;? said Interim Director of Athletics Patrick Dunkley.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He will certainly be missed and I
wish him well in at the University
of Kentucky.â&#x20AC;?
Before heading to Kentucky, Floreal will be coaching the decathlon
team and will be the jumps coach
for the U.S. Olympic track and field
team at the London Games.
Floreal, a graduate from the University of Arkansas, will lead six
sports programs at Kentucky, including menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cross
country, menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indoor
track and field, along with menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and
womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outdoor track and field.
Floreal, who is the first new track
and field head coach in 28 years for
E.J. Floreal will be leaving Paly.
the SCVAL De Anza Division that
helped earn him all-league honors.
It was in track and field, however, where Floreal really made his
mark.
Despite competing in the sport
for only his second season, Floreal
helped the Vikings to the SCVAL
De Anza Division dual-meet and
league-meet titles, the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firstever Central Coast Section team
championship and a tie for sixth
place at the CIF State Meet.
Floreal set school records of
10.52 in the 100 meters, 21.16 in the
200 and anchored the Vikings to a
school mark of 41.56 in the 400 relay. He won individual CCS titles in
the 100, 200 and helped Paly win
the 400 relay.
At the state meet, Floreal finished
third in the 200, fourth in the 100
and helped the Vikings to a seventh
place in the 400 relay. N
Death of popular former Stanford basketball
player Pete Sauer comes as quite a shock
P
eter Sauer was a popular
member and key contributor
on the 1998 Stanford Final
Four menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball team, thus
his death this week caught the Stanford community off guard.
Sauer collapsed and died Sunday
night after he hit his head on the
court during a pickup basketball
game in White Plains, N.Y. He was
35.
According to reports, Sauer was
standing on the right side of the
foul line while another player was
shooting a free throw. He fell back,
hitting his head on the concrete
floor and stopped moving. He was
taken by ambulance to White Plains
Hospital, where he was pronounced
dead at 9:36 p.m.
An autopsy conducted by the
Westchester County medical examinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office on Monday revealed
that Sauer had an enlarged heart
and that likely was the cause of his
death.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone in the Stanford community is deeply saddened by
Page 32Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
the passing of Peter Sauer,â&#x20AC;? said
Stanford menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball head
coach Johnny Dawkins. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was
a tremendous individual and a devoted husband and father. He was
very passionate about Stanford
and our basketball program. Our
thoughts and prayers go out to his
wife Amanda and their three children.â&#x20AC;?
The outgoing Sauer, who played
four seasons for the Cardinal and
graduated with an economics degree in 1999, was part of a five-man
recruiting class that played in the
NCAA Tournament four consecutive years and won the Pac-10 title
in 1998.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Meeting him for the first time,
you could easily see how invested he
was in this program and really, all of
Stanford athletics,â&#x20AC;? said Dawkins.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peter truly embodied what it meant
to be a Stanford student-athlete. He
spoke to our guys about taking full
advantage of their opportunities and
how attending Stanford is a lifetime
decision.â&#x20AC;?
Sauer was in attendance during
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NIT championship run
in March, and also watched practice
before speaking briefly to the team.
Sauer led an early-morning tour of
Bank of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corporate headquarters the following day.
Smart, tough, confident and dependable, Sauer served as a team
captain during his junior and senior
years for head coach Mike Montgomery. He started 96 games and
played in 124 overall.
Sauer, who played small and
power forward, averaged 7.9 points
and 4.2 rebounds for his career, but
those numbers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell the story of
his contributions. He was a fearless
competitor, a terrific passer, and always had a smile on his face.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Very tragic,â&#x20AC;? Montgomery said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;To me, he was kind of the epitome
of what a student-athlete should be.
He wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the most athletic guy, but
he was very cerebral and made others better. He was one of our more
(continued on page 34)
Sports
Tennis
(continued from page 31)
Harjanto Sumali
Gibbs earned a wild card into the
main draw following a remarkable
season with the Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
team. She won both the NCAA
singles and doubles title and then
joined the USTA-sponsored college
team that plays in summer pro circuit events.
She won the Colorado International title last weekend after first
having to qualify for the main draw.
That led to some added confidence
when she took the court against
Lertcheewakarn.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;That was perfect,â&#x20AC;? she said after
playing eight singles matches and
five doubles matches in eight days.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I played a lot of players who were
at the same level as the girl I played
today. During the NCAAs I was
tested a lot in every match and faced
every competitive situation possible.
That all happened.â&#x20AC;?
Gibbs, who will be majoring in
Economics, said she wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be playing any college tournaments during
the fall in order to pursue ranking
points and test the waters. As of now
sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s committed to playing for Stanford in the spring.
For Forood, it was a tremendous
day with both of her players win-
Fifth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer earned a Friday quarterfinal berth
after rallying for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory on Wednesday.
ning.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a very fun day for me,â&#x20AC;? she
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always project what stage
of development our players are and
today was validation that college
players are not that far behind.â&#x20AC;?
Burdette played her first match
since the NCAA tournament ended.
Gibbs played in her first matches of
the summer last week in Colorado.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you play, arguably, the
best player in the world you are
going to see what it is all about,â&#x20AC;?
Forood said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You get to see what
you need to do better. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the
neat thing about summer, you get
exposure to the next level.â&#x20AC;?
Burdette, who had older sisters
Lindsay and Erin in the stands rooting her on, had a moment of disbelief when she looked at the qualifying tournament and did not see her
name on it.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I called Lele to find out why I
wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in it,â&#x20AC;? Burdette said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
when I found out I was in the main
draw. I was not expecting it.â&#x20AC;?
Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s singles winner will earn
$96,000 while the runnerup will
get $53,000. Semifinalists will receive $28,500 from the total purse
of $640,000. N
Harjanto Sumali
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of her best attributes,â&#x20AC;? Forood said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
quit. As a player, I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going
to help her when sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on tour. There
are a lot of matches. There are a lot
of weeks. You have to want to win
them all and be ready to play them
all. I think Nicole is one of those
people who will be ready to play
them all.â&#x20AC;?
Willliams, a 14-time Grand Slam
winner, was credited with seven
aces, six of those coming in the first
set. She also won 78 percent of the
points on her first serve, compared
to 45 percent for Gibbs.
In other matches Wednesday,
fifth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer
topped Heather Watson, 5-7, 6-1,
6-4, sixth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers beat Michelle Larcher de Brito,
6-3, 6-4, and unseeded Coco
Vandeweghe upset No. 4 Jelena
Jankovic, 6-4, 6-2.
Gibbs earned a shot at Williams
by beating Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Noppawan
Lertcheewakarn, 6-4, 6-4, in the
first round on Tuesday. Burdette also
advanced with a surprise 2-6, 7-5,
6-4 victory over Great Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topranked player Anne Keothavong,
who is headed to the Olympics.
Keith Peters
Coco Vandeweghe will play in Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quarterfinals after winning two
matches this week, including an upset of No. 4 Jelena Jankovic.
Harjanto Sumali
the tourney title is for the taking
between world No. 4 Williams and
world No. 10 Bartoli.
Despite two weeks at Wimbledon and a long plane ride back to
the states, Williams displayed her
dominance in her first match with
a 6-2, 6-1 dismantling of Stanford
junior Nicole Gibbs on Wednesday.
It was a matchup of Wimbledon
champ versus Colorado International champ, one of the best players
ever against the best college female
player of 2012.
Williams came in with
$38,035,392 in career prize money
while Gibbs was penniless. Williams had 624 WTA-level maindraw matches under her belt while
Gibbs had one. When Williams
turned pro in 1995, Gibbs was two
years old. Thus, the final score was
expected.
Gibbs could only laugh when she
double-faulted her first serve on the
hot day.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t surprise me,â&#x20AC;? Gibbs said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;really?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; I can laugh at
that one.â&#x20AC;?
The result didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter so much
to Gibbs, who was a winner the moment she took the court against her
tennis hero.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a great experience for me
to match up against someone of that
caliber,â&#x20AC;? Gibbs said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got a lot of
experience points if not physical
points. It was a good bench mark
for me to realize I can play at this
level.â&#x20AC;?
Gibbs gets another chance, too.
The Santa Monica native was
awarded a wild card for the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego
next week.
Gibbs and Stanford senior Mallory Burdette also played in the
doubles tournament, losing to thirdseeded Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 10-6.
Burdette is headed to a $10,000
event next week.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought Mal and I did great for
our first time playing in a month,â&#x20AC;?
Gibbs said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still meshing
together. We just a little unlucky at
some of the points. We proved we
could play against the third seed of
a major tournament.â&#x20AC;?
Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis coach
Lele Forood was a proud observer
of the match.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure Nicole learned a lot out
there,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was impressed
with the depth and the pace and she
obviously knew darn well she would
be seeing a monster serve and had to
try to get a racket on it.â&#x20AC;?
Gibbs, her left leg tightly bandaged from almost knee to hip, held
serve twice in the first set and broke
Williams for her lone point in the
second set.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;She held her own today,â&#x20AC;? Williams said of Gibbs, who at age 12
once served as a ballgirl for a Williams match. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She hits the ball well.
She played well and moved well. She
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quit and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best quality you can have as an athlete. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
a fighter. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really good to see such
good Americans coming up.â&#x20AC;?
Forood was quick to agree with
Williamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; assessment of the reigning NCAA singles and doubles (with
Burdette) champion.
Stanford senior Mallory Burdette was hoping to reach her first WTA
quarterfinal, but needed to beat 2011 runner-up Marion Bartoli.
2011 Bank of the West runner-up Marion Bartoli needed to beat
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mallory Burdette on Thursday to reach Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quarterfinals.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 33
Sports
Palo Alto Olympian wins a U.S. Open title;
local volleyball teams shine at Junior Nationals
by Rick Eymer
alo Alto High junior Lily
Zhang made her final big
tuneup for the Olympic
Games a good one by winning the
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Under-21 title in table
tennis at the U.S. Open, which
wrapped up last week in Grand
Rapids, Mich.
Zhang, 15, who was seeded No.
2 behind Olympic teammate and
training partner Ariel Hsing, won
three matches before meeting
Hsing in the finals and winning, 1210, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-9. A game
is won by being the first player to
reach 11 points, with a lead of at
least two points.
The title was Zhangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first in the
21-under division, where she also
competed last year and reached the
finals.
P
Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; volleyball
The Vision Gold 18-1 womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
volleyball team suffered two losses
all season. The last one happened
to be in the semifinals of the USAV
Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Junior National Championships in Columbus, Ohio over the
weekend.
Vision Gold, coached by Stanford
assistant Jason Mansfield, was the
top seed entering the tournament
and won its first eight matches
before getting upset by Sky High
Black, from the Great Lakes Region, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12, to finish
third in the Open Division.
Meanwhile, the City Beach Black
18-1 team, coached by Stanford grad
Leahi Hall, won the American Division, beating Skyline RoShamBo,
17-25, 25-17, 15-11, in the championship match.
Sacred Heart Prep grads Jesse
Ebner and Sarah Daschbach and
Menlo-Atherton grad Sarah Collins, all of whom are headed to the
Ivy League, are members of Vision Gold, which dropped only two
matches during the summer. Cas-
tilleja grad Hannah Boland, heading for UCLA, and Mountain View
grad Brittany Howard, who will be a
freshman at Stanford, were also major contributors. Howard was named
to the all-tournament team.
Hall, who is assisted by Stanford
grad and Olympian Ogonna Nnamani, went 11-0 in the American
Division, dropping only three sets
along the way.
A trio of Palo Alto grads, Melanie Wade, Maddie Kuppe and Kim
Whitson, completed a rare triple
before heading off to different colleges. Wade was named the MVP.
Wade will be at Washington next
year, Kuppe is headed to Connecticut and Whitson will be attending
Pacific. Of the 10 recent grads on
the team, seven have committed to
playing volleyball in college.
Other top performances from
local teams at the Junior Nationals came from Payeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Performance
17-1 team, which finished third in
the Open Division, Vision Gold
16-1 and 14-1 teams each finished
seventh in their respective Open Divisions and Vision Gold 15 placed
third in the American Division.
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shelby Knowles, Sacred Heart Prepâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ellie Shannon,
M-Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ali Spindt and Castillejaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Lucy Tashman played for Payeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Performance, which finished 7-2
at the tournament. Spindt made the
all-tourney team.
Menlo Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Melissa Cairo
and Maddie Huber and M-Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Paulina King helped Vision Gold 16
finish 5-5 while Gunnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Meghan
Mahoney and M-Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kaitlin Tavarez helped guide Vision Gold 15 to
a 7-3 record.
Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; water polo
Three teams from the Stanford
Water Polo Club competed in the
U.S. Club Championships in San
Diego last weekend, but enjoyed a
less-than-stellar stay.
The 18s and 16s each finished
ninth while the 14s wound up 13th.
The 18s, coached by Jon Burke of
Sacred Heart Prep, dropped tough
matches to SET, CHAWP and Los
Angeles Water Polo Club, but rebounded to win a sudden-death
match over Xtreme, toppled Diablo
and then beat San Jose in sudden
death to finish ninth.
Team members included Elizabeth Anderson from Gunn; Pippa Temple, Erin Sheridan and
Bridgette Harper from Sacred Heart
Prep; Skylar Dorosin from Paly and
Olivia Santiago from Los Altos.
The 16s, coached by Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant Kyle Utsumi, lost to
eventual champion SoCal, 8-4, and
fifth-place finisher Xtreme, 1410, but beat Irvine Kahuna, 13-6,
to conclude play on Saturday. On
Sunday, Stanford topped South
Coast, 12-7, beat Foothill, 10-8,
and earned ninth by downing 680,
12-7, as Morgan McCracken scored
six goals.
Team members included SHPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Kelly Moran, Caitlin Stuewe and
McCracken; Caroline Anderson and
Rachel Wong from Gunn; Jessica
Heilman from Menlo-Atherton; and
Courtney Batcheller, Sami Strutner,
Katherine Moore, Natalie Williams,
Evan Zakula and Anna Edgington
from St. Francis. N
Pete Sauer
(continued from page 32)
popular guys because he was so
well-rounded.â&#x20AC;?
The bigger the moment, the more
Sauer responded.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He made some big shots for us,â&#x20AC;?
said Montgomery. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I remember in
our Final Four game against Kentucky, he hit a deep three to pull us
within one. He was very competitive
and had a great career for us.â&#x20AC;?
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Sauer
grew up in Pittsburgh and was a
standout basketball player at Shady
Side Academy. He finished as the
schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all-time leading scorer.
Sauer spent the past five years
working in New York City in Equity
Sales at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch. He and his wife, Amanda,
had three daughters. He is also
survived by his parents, Mark and
Georgia Sauer, and younger brother
Alex. His father was former president of the St. Louis Blues hockey
team and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Palo Alto Is The
BEST PLACE
REMEMBERING
PETER SAUER
To Retire.
Webster House is now a member of Episcopal Senior Communities, the not-for-proďŹ t
organization that owns and operates Canterbury Woods, Los Gatos Meadows, Lytton
Gardens, San Francisco Towers, Spring Lake Village, and St. Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Towers. Ideally located
near the wonderful mix of shops, restaurants, and art galleries, our newly renovated
apartments, gracious amenities, enriched services, and new programs make living here a style
of life that offers you real peace-of-mind in a welcoming community with the advantages of
continuing care. To learn more, or for your personal visit, please call 650.327.4333.
401 Webster Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301
websterhousepaloalto.org
A non-denominational, not-for-proďŹ t community. License No. 435294364 COA #246
Page 34Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;
EPWH645-01BA 03 071312
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peter was one of the most outgoing, inclusive-spirited, funny,
competitive, get-it-done, on-courtsmarts-oozing, team-first athletes
in the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; John Platz, Stanford radio
play-by-play announcer and former
Cardinal basketball letterwinner
(1982-84)
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Stanford Basketball family
lost a great player and even better
human being. RIP Peter Sauer. My
prayers are with your family.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Josh Owens, former Cardinal
basketball letterwinner 2008-12
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coaching is like parenting, no
real favorites. Just qualities you love
in each. Peter Sauer had a bunch to
love. RIPâ&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Eric Reveno, Portland head
coach and former Stanford assistant
coach
Sports
YOUTH BASEBALL
Palo Alto Babe Ruth 14s
open NorCal State tourney
A
year ago, the Palo Alto Babe
Ruth 13-year-old all-stars
didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t advance past the District 6 Tournament. While those
players were heading off on vacations, the Palo Alto 15s and 14s
were competing in NorCal State
Tournament action.
Those 13s of last year are now 14s
and, finally, will have their chance
to advance in the postseason.
That opportunity will come starting this weekend when Palo Alto
plays host to the NorCal State Tournament at Baylands Athletic Center.
Manager Rick Farr will guide the
14s into the NorCal playoffs. His
roster includes John Bird, Kodiak
Conrad, Evan Easton, John Guiragossian, Lawrence Han, Albert
Han, Brian Knapp, Daniel KollarGasiewski, AJ Lemons, Jared Lucian, Mitchell Martella, Rylan Pade,
Jackson Salabert, Alexii Sigona and
Ryan Voltattorni. The teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alternate is Shane Stafford.
Farr coached the 14s in the district tournament, but held out his top
pitchers.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;After going 0-2 in the district
tournament, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say we are big underdogs,â&#x20AC;? Farr said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have some
arms, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to gauge how
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll match up against that level
of play. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested to find out
myself.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;From what I know, Tri Valley
and Mountain View are probably
the favorites. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just hoping to
make a decent showing.â&#x20AC;?
The 14s will carry the flag for
Palo Alto into this stage of the season, following the elimination of
the 15s and 13s in district action
last week.
The eight-team, double-elimination event gets under way Saturday
with four games. Palo Alto will host
East Sacramento to wrap up the first
dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities at 7 p.m.
Palo Alto will either face the
winner of Northern Solano and Eel
River in a winnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;-bracket game
Sunday at 7 p.m., or face the loser
of that matchup in consolation action at 1 p.m.
Four years ago, in the last Olympic year, the Palo Alto 14s advanced
all the way to the World Series for
the first time in program history. N
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Game 1 -- Mountain View vs. Alameda, 10 a.m.
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MONDAY, July 16
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WEDNESDAY, July 18
Game 11 -- Game 9 winner vs. Game
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To
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Game 7 -- Game 1 winner vs. Game
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THURSDAY, July 19
Game 13 -- Game 11 winner vs. Game
12 loser, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, July 20
Game 14 -- Game 12 winner vs. Game
13 winner, 5 p.m.
Game 15 -- Challenge game, if necessary, 8 p.m.
O
L
N
2012
E
SUNDAY, July 15
Game 5 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2
loser, 10 a.m.
e
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